India hikes jet fuel, commercial LPG cost

India's oil ministry said Wednesday that domestic jet fuel prices would rise as the Middle East war pushed up energy costs, but that it had cushioned airlines from an expected 100 per cent jump.



Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) makes up a substantial chunk of airlines' expenses, and sustained increases could translate into higher airfares.



State-run refiner Indian Oil Corporation said that ATF prices rose by 8.5 per cent in the capital Delhi, with similar rises in other major cities.



The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial shipping route for oil and gas virtually paralysed by the Middle East war.



But the ministry said it had "passed only a partial and staggered increase of 25 per cent" to airlines in order to "insulate the domestic travel costs from the substantial increase in international prices".



Foreign travel routes "will pay for the full increase in ATF prices consistent with what they pay in other parts of the world"..