Airline stocks zoom on fare hike

MUMBAI: Shares of airline companies zoomed higher after they increased air fares to boost revenues and margins. Expectations of an increase in foreign direct investment limit in domestic airlines also boosted the stocks.

Airlines including low-cost carriers have withdrawn all promotional fares and increased basic fares by around Rs 2,000 on several sectors from Tuesday.

The decision was taken as operators were faced with low load factors, though basic promotional fares had been as low as Rs 99 on many routes, according to media reports.

At 12:40 pm, Kingfisher Airlines was up 2.96 per cent at Rs 36.50, Jet Airways climbed 1.15 per cent to Rs 176.50 and Spicejet rose 3.34 per cent to Rs 17.63.