Hike in airfares: During the last one year, the International Crude Oil prices have almost doubled. Because of this, the Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) is also going up, forcing the airlines to pass on the burden to end user i.e. passengers. So, over this period, the tax component of an air ticket has gone up from INR 1000 to INR 2800 (from USD 25 to USD 70!!). ATF prices in India are among the highest in the world. They account for nearly 40 percent of the operating costs of an airline, according to officials and any increase here directly affects the airlines bottom-line which are already under tremendous pressure due to falling load.