Following a rise in cost of aviation turbine fuel, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have hiked their fuel surcharge by Rs400 on all domestic sectors from today. Other airlines are also likely to follow suit.

The new surcharge now stands at Rs3,400 per ticket for Jet's premier carrier and its low-fare subsidiaries, JetLite and Jet Airways Konnect.

Announcing the hike, an airline spokesperson said, "Jet Airways has decided to increase its fuel surcharge by Rs400 on all domestic sectors with effect from tickets purchased starting June 17."

The hike by Kingfisher would be uniformly applied for all distances and classes, and includes Kingfisher Red.

In April this year both the airlines had raised surcharge by Rs300 due to an increase in fuel prices. (See: Jet Airways, Kingfisher hike fuel surcharge by Rs300)

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices have risen by 33 per cent since March this year. The fuel price accounts for 40 per cent of the operating costs for airlines.

State-run oil firms had raised ATF prices by over 12 per cent two days ago. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum increased fuel prices by Rs3,949 to Rs36,252 per kilolitre in Delhi.

Global oil prices had hit a six-month high last month as OPEC did not hike output. (See: Oil hits six-month high as OPEC refuses to hike output)

Air India too is considering raising its surcharge. "We are also seriously contemplating an upward revision in fuel surcharge in view of the continuous increase in ATF prices," a spokesperson said, adding the decision would be taken in a couple of days. The airline charges Rs1,950 and Rs2,700 as fuel surcharge on tickets up to and beyond 750km, respectively.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Saroj Datta, executive director, Jet Airways, commented on the need for a declared goods status for ATF and said, ''The industry has been making representations to the government about the requirement or the need to look at it and to implement it for several years now. The important point is that it has become an industry with very low yields and high import costs. In India, input cost are substantially higher than elsewhere in the world with fuel taxes being 25-26 per cent.''

''I don't see how airlines – I am talking about carriers, operators in India who are already making very substantial losses - will be able to continue to even move towards break even if we don't do anything with the fares and the fuel surcharge, '' he added.