Air India fares are set to go up as the airline on Tuesday announced a hike in fuel surcharge amid the conflict in the West Asian region.. Air India said in a statement announcing the hike that the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF). (PTI). The airline has announced a “phased expansion” of fuel surcharge on its domestic and international routes, citing “the steep rise in jet fuel prices arising from the geopolitical situation in the Gulf region.”. Air India said in a statement announcing the hike that the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of an airline’s operating costs, had witnessed a significant escalation since early March 2026. The airline said that this was owing to “supply disruptions.”. The pressure in India is amplified owing to the “high excise duty and VAT” on the aviation turbine fuel in major metro cities including Delhi and Mumbai, Air India stated. It added that this eventually magnifies the cost and places substantial strain on airline operating economics.. The airline said that the new fuel surcharges will be implemented in three phases.. Air India fares are set to go up as the airline on Tuesday announced a hike in fuel surcharge amid the conflict in the West Asian region.. The airline has announced a “phased expansion” of fuel surcharge on its domestic and international routes, citing “the steep rise in jet fuel prices arising from the geopolitical situation in the Gulf region.”. Air India said in a statement announcing the hike that the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of an airline’s operating costs, had witnessed a significant escalation since early March 2026. The airline said that this was owing to “supply disruptions.”. The pressure in India is amplified owing to the “high excise duty and VAT” on the aviation turbine fuel in major metro cities including Delhi and Mumbai, Air India stated. It added that this eventually magnifies the cost and places substantial strain on airline operating economics.. |#+|. The airline expressed regret for the increase in fuel surcharges “in this manner”, but said that it was being done due to “factors outside its control.” “Absent such fuel surcharges, it is likely that some flights would be unable to cover operating cost and would have to be cancelled,” Air India said in the statement.. The airline said that the new fuel surcharges will be implemented in three phases. Under the first phase, fuel surcharge of ₹399 will be applied for bookings for domestic travel as well as SAARC countries. West Asia/ Middle East nations will also be applicable for USD 10 hike. Bookings for these regions earlier did not carry any fuel surchage.. The fuel surcharge for Southeast Asia nations will be increased from USD 40 to USD 60, and for Africa region from USD 60 to USD 90. The first phase will be rolled out from March 12.. Phase 2, which will be effective from March 18, w 

 India has maintained regular supplies of diesel to Bangladesh under an existing contract and Dhaka’s request for additional supplies will be considered while keeping in mind availability and market conditions, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.. The request from Dhaka has come at a time when both countries are engaged in efforts to repair their relations. (Image sourced from bdnews24 website). The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) made a request for 5,000 tonnes of diesel to be supplied from Numaligarh refinery in Assam over the weekend to tide over an energy crisis brought on by the Iran-US conflict, which has disrupted energy supply chains.. The people said that the cross-border Friendship Pipeline, operationalised in 2017, has been supplying diesel to Bangladesh on a commercial basis from Numaligarh Refinery Limited.. “This diesel supply is part of regular ongoing energy trade between the two countries,” one of the people said. “Fuel availability in India is being closely monitored.”. Also Read: Top Bangladesh security official visits India for meetings. Bangladesh’s request for additional diesel supplies will be considered in the context of domestic availability and conditions in the global market, the people said. The request from Dhaka has come at a time when both countries are engaged in efforts to repair their relations after a period of intense strains, and New Delhi has traditionally played a crucial role in meeting the energy needs of neighbouring countries.. Bangladesh has closed universities and introduced fuel rationing because of the worsening energy crisis. Public and private universities across the country were shut on Monday, as authorities brought forward the Eid ⁠al-Fitr holidays as part ⁠of emergency measures to conserve fuel. Bangladesh, which relies on imports for 95% of its energy requirements, imposed daily limits on fuel sales after panic buying last week.. The demand for additional diesel stocks, in order to maintain stable fuel reserves and ensure uninterrupted supplies, was raised by Bangladesh’s finance minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury during a meeting with Indian high commissioner Pranay Verma over the weekend. Reports in the Bangladeshi media said Dhaka had sought an additional 50,000 tonnes of diesel over the next four months from India.. This is in addition to an existing agreement for Bangladesh to import 180,000 tonnes of diesel from the Numaligarh refinery by December 2026. 

 IndiGo, India’s largest airline, announced on Tuesday that its chief executive officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers has resigned. Neither Elbers, who was contracted up to 2027, nor IndiGo stated a reason for the move that comes three months after the airline faced massive flight disruptions and Elbers faced direct scrutiny too.. IndiGo co-founder and MD Rahul Bhatia will run the show until a new CEO is found. (File Photo). They thanked each other, and Elbers sought a waiver of notice period in his resignation, though it was not immediately clear how long he would stay on for a handover. But his tenure is cut short by about 18 months with the move; he joined IndiGo in September 2022 for a five-year tenure that was to end in 2027.. The mass cancellations in December 2025 apparently due to pilot shortage — triggered by flight duty time limit (FTDL) norms — left tens of thousands of passengers stranded in India.. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) imposed a fine of ₹22.2 crore, and issued notices directly to Elbers. While he initially survived calls for his resignation, the crisis significantly dented the airline’s reputation for punctuality.. For now, according to the press statement released by Indigo, managing director Rahul Bhatia would manage the company until a replacement is hired.. “Rahul returns to assume management of the affairs of the airline to strengthen the Company’s Culture, reinforce Operational Excellence and deepen its commitment to delivering exceptional service, care, reliability and professionalism to its customers,” said the chairman of the board, Vikram Singh Mehta.. Bhatia told employees in internal mail after Elbers quit, that “what happened last Dec(ember) should never have taken place”.. “Our customers didn’t deserve it. nor did all of (you), esp(ecially) frontline employees who bore most of the brunt for no fault,” he said,. He underlined that he had founded “and nurtured IndiGo for twenty-two years”, and expressed “a deep sense of personal commitment and responsibility towards our nation, and towards the airline’s customers, employees, shareholders and all other stakeholders”.. He signed off with the popular Shah Rukh Khan dialogue “Main hoon na” — ‘I am there’. 

 On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stressed that the constitutional right to a speedy trial aims to protect undertrials from prolonged detention while also delivering prompt justice to victims and their families, voicing concern over the extended delays in criminal trials in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The court further noted that the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh could have stepped in sooner. (Photo from HT file). While hearing a case concerning delays in a murder trial, a court bench expressed that it was “extremely disappointed” to learn that as many as 351 sessions trials in the UT have been pending for over five years, involving a total of 585 accused persons. The court was especially disturbed that most of these cases—235 in total—remain stalled at the stage of recording oral evidence from prosecution witnesses, highlighting systemic delays in trial proceedings. The court stressed that the right to a speedy trial, derived from Article 21 of the Constitution, must not be interpreted narrowly as a protection solely for the accused. The primary objective of starting this initiative is to prevent undertrials from remaining in jail indefinitely. The victims deserve swift justice as well. We have often observed that justice must not only be served to the accused. The bench observed that justice must also be served to the victims as well as their families and loved ones. Also Read: Supreme Court orders strict timeline for acid attack trials. 

 On Tuesday, the Supreme Court stressed that the constitutional right to a speedy trial aims to protect undertrials from prolonged detention while also delivering prompt justice to victims and their families, voicing concern over the extended delays in criminal trials in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The court further noted that the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh could have stepped in sooner. (Photo from HT file). While hearing a case concerning delays in a murder trial, a court bench expressed that it was “extremely disappointed” to learn that as many as 351 sessions trials in the UT have been pending for over five years, involving a total of 585 accused persons. The court was especially disturbed that most of these cases—235 in total—remain stalled at the stage of recording oral evidence from prosecution witnesses, highlighting systemic delays in trial proceedings. The court stressed that the right to a speedy trial, derived from Article 21 of the Constitution, must not be interpreted narrowly as a protection solely for the accused. The primary objective of starting this initiative is to prevent undertrials from remaining in jail indefinitely. The victims deserve swift justice as well. We have often observed that justice must not only be served to the accused. The bench observed that justice must also be served to the victims as well as their families and loved ones. Also Read: Supreme Court orders strict timeline for acid attack trials.