New Delhi: Amid rising concerns over higher airfares despite fall in oil prices, no-frills airline IndiGo has acknowledged that it is not “passing on all” the benefits accruing from lower fuel costs to the customers. The steep fall in international crude oil prices in recent times has provided a boost for airlines as ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) costs account for over 40 % of a carrier’s total operating costs. IndiGo President and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh said the airline continues to use the low cost fuel opportunity to lower fares and register strong increases in passenger numbers. “If you look at fourth quarter (January-March 2015-16), then fuel prices came down 29.5 % whereas the average fares came down I think above 15.2 %. “So clearly, we are not passing on all of its back to the customers, but of course the lower fuel prices and the lower average fares also has a positive effect on our load factors,” he said during the conference call. “We are not driving down fares, there is some amount of competitive pressure from other operators as well”.
While the airline is benefiting on the higher load factors, he said, “we think we will kind of stay with how the market moves” as per the transcript of the conference call posted on IndiGo’s website. Concerns have been expressed in various quarters, including by Parliamentarians that airlines are not passing on benefits from lower ATF costs to the passengers.
The aviation regulator has asked carriers to provide details on the number of tickets sold in the highest fare bracket and share of revenue earned from this on 20 identified routes.
