Indian Airlines fares have been raised by 15 per cent across the board with immediate effect due to a massive increase in the prices of aviation turbine fuel, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said on Thursday.

The hike in fares is not connected with the ongoing Iraq war, he told reporters in New Delhi.

Any decision on fare hike of Air-India will be taken later, he said.

Air-India has also sought a ten per cent hike in its fares due to the increase in the ATF rates from 101 cents per gallon in December to 117 cents in February, 133 cents on March 1 and 144 cents on March 15.

Hussain also said Air-India and Indian Airlines were still operating its normal schedule to Gulf countries, especially to Kuwait, Dammam and Bahrain as the airspace had not yet been closed due to the war, which began early on Thursday.'

"So long as the airspace over Gulf is open to traffic, they will continue to operate their normal schedule to these places," he said, stressing that there had been no suspension of flights to Gulf stations as yet.

Asked whether a war surcharge would be imposed on the air fares, the minister did not rule it out but said it would depend on the decision of the International Air Transport Association.

the government has already decided to suspend Air-India and Indian Airlines flights to Bahrain, Dammam and Kuwait whenever the airspace is closed. Such a move would lead the two carriers to suffer an aggregate loss of about Rs 110 crore (Rs 1.10 billion) per month.

While A-I was estimated to suffer a loss of about Rs 70 crore (Rs 700 million), IA's loss would be about Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million).

The "two-pronged attack" on the two airlines would be from the rise in ATF prices as well as the fact that their aircraft would have to make a detour of over 90 minutes to circumvent the war zone.

As it is, the airlines were suffering a loss of Rs 40 crore a year due to restrictions on overflying Pakistani airspace and a rise in flying time by at least one hour.

The diversion due to the ongoing war would have to be from further west of Iran and avoiding Turkey, which would
mean a shift of about 200 nautical miles and an additional flying time of 70 minutes. Due to this, the additional fuel
consumption was estimated to be worth Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) per aircraft per flight.

The travel industry has also estimated that about 30 per cent of tourists coming to India would cancel their visits
due to the war, implying a lower load factor for these airlines.