New Delhi: Air travel will become more expensive as all major airlines have decided to raise the fares by at least 10 per cent, besides hiking the fuel surcharge.

The move by India's national carrier Air India and private airlines like Jet Airways, Spicejet and Kingfisher comes in the wake of the rise in prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) by over nine percent after the increase in international crude oil rates.

While some airlines have said they will hike air fares from Friday, Jet Airways has decided to increase the basic fare of economy and business class tickets by about 10 per cent from Saturday.

According to industry sources, the hike is the result of the ATF price hike. Crude oil has touched $120-a-barrel mark in the international market. Jet Airways and SpiceJet would increase surcharge by Rs.150 on short-haul routes and Rs.350 on long-haul routes. While Jet will make the hike effective from May 3, SpiceJet will start charging higher fare from May 2, according to reports.

Aviation officials here said the cost of aviation fuel in New Delhi has increased to Rs.58,387.92 per 1,000 litres from Rs.53,309.30 - a hike of Rs.5,078. In Mumbai, the rates have gone up by Rs.5,276.

SpiceJet Chairman Siddhantha Sharma said, "SpiceJet will continue to use a differential surcharge model applied last month wherein short-haul sectors, such as Delhi-Jaipur, command a smaller surcharge compared with long-haul sectors such as Delhi-Bangalore."

The May hike in aviation fuel follows a 14 per cent jump in prices in April. The new round of fare increases will again hit passenger growth rates. In the last quarter of the 2007-08 fiscal, the number of domestic air passengers grew just 11.12 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year.

Source : IANS