Close on the heels of the last week announcement of an increase of fuel surcharge on air tickets by Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, the economical airlines, SpiceJet Ltd, has also decided to raise fuel surcharge on domestic sector air tickets by up to Rs 300.

In an e-mail to Reuters on Monday, SpiceJet said: "We are also looking at increasing the fuel charge by 200 rupees to 300 rupees in the next few days." While the surcharged levied for routes below 750 kilometers was raised by Rs 200; for sectors beyond 750 kilometers, the surcharge was increased by Rs 300.

The fuel surcharge raise comes in reaction to the March 1-announced 18 percent increase in jet fuel prices by the Indian Oil Corporation.

Expressing his opinion with regard to the increase in charges, analyst Mahantesh Sabarad, of Centrum Broking Pvt, said that the move would surely result in a fall in passenger traffic, as people are wrestling with their expenses amid slowing economic growth and increasing job insecurity.

Commenting on the 'tightrope walk' situation facing the carriers, Sabarad said: "Airlines are caught in a tricky situation. On the one hand, they have to raise the fares to accommodate higher fuel expenses. On the other, ticket charges need to go down to attract more passengers as travel demand is falling."