After Air India, IndiGo adds fuel surcharge: How your ticket fares will be affected

IndiGo, one of India's largest airlines, on Friday announced a fuel surcharge on flight ticket fares effective from 12:01 AM on Saturday.

This makes it the latest airline after Air India to hike ticket prices over escalating tensions in the Middle East, amid the closure of the Hormuz Strait as a part of the war between Iran and US-Israel forces, which has majorly disrupted global energy flows and hiked fuel prices.

"This measure is taken due to the significant surge in fuel prices following the ongoing geopolitical issues in the Middle East," the airline said in a statement, citing data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which indicated a more than 85 per cent increase in fuel prices in the region.

Specifically, the airline pointed out that the war-induced supply pressure was on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which forms a major part of an airline's operating cost.

"While offsetting the entire impact of this fuel price surge requires a very substantial adjustment to fares, IndiGo has introduced a relatively smaller amount as a fuel charge keeping in mind the consequential burden on customers," it added.

This comes after a number of carriers recently spoke about fuel surcharges amid rising fuel prices, including Air India (and its budget arm Air India Express)—which will implement fuel surcharges in a phased manner from March 12 onwards—and Spicejet, whose founder Ajay Singh told Bloomberg that it would have "no choice" but to impose the similar surcharges if the siituation worsened.

Singh has also declared that Spicejet may even be looking at grounding planes in the future if the issue persisted.

Full list of IndiGo's additional fuel charges per sector (in Rs)

Within India

Rs 425

Indian subcontinent

Rs 425

Middle East

Rs 900

South East Asia and China

Rs 1800

Africa and West Asia

Rs 1800

Europe

Rs 2300