India’s jet fuel demand cooled in February 2025 after soaring to record highs for two consecutive months, beginning December 2024, aided by Maha Kumbh, which fuelled the rush of domestic and international travellers.
According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India’s aviation turbine fuel (ATF) consumption rose by 3.7 per cent y-o-y to 731,000 tonnes last month.
However, it fell by 6.3 per cent on a monthly basis.
Considered the world’s largest gathering professing to a single faith, Maha Kumbh concluded on February 26, 2025 on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.
It is estimated that around 66 crore people attended the celebration, which commenced on January 13.
India’s ATF usage rose by almost 9 per cent y-o-y to 780,000 tonnes in January 2025.
Domestic airlines carried 1.46 crore passengers, a growth of 11.28 per cent each on an annual and monthly basis.
February 2025 numbers are yet to come.
The previous high was recorded in December last year when jet fuel usage hit 778,000 tonnes as the year-end holiday season boosted both international and domestic travel.
Prior to this, ATF consumption had hit a high of 757,000 tonnes in October 2024 and 758,000 tonnes in March 2024.
Monthly consumption of ATF during October 2024 to February 2025 has been higher with the average usage standing at around 759,000 tonnes.
This is largely attributed to the holiday and festival season during October-December 2024.
Besides, the Maha kumbh and marriage season aided air travel during January and February 2025.
Rising spending power in the world’s fastest growing emerging economy is pushing up the demand for ATF as morepeople are taking to the skies.
This also reflects in the government’s estimates for the upcoming financial year.
Jet fuel consumption is expected to grow at almost 10 per cent annually in FY26, which is the highest among all refined petroleum products, baring natural gas.
PPAC expects India’s ATF usage to grow by 9.82 per cent in FY26 to 9.95 million tonnes (MT) against a revised estimate of 9.06 MT in FY25.
India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) expects the passenger traffic to grow at 8-10 per cent y-o-y Vin FY26, driven by robust passenger growth across metro and tier 1 and tier 2 cities and the government intent to operationalise more airports and routes.
Resuming business travel and tourism supports passenger growth.
However, the consumption of auto fuels, diesel and petrol, both registered a decline on a monthly basis for the fourth consecutive month during February 2025.
Diesel consumption fell by 1.5 per cent y-o-y to 7.33 MT in February 2025.
Last year February had one more day due to 2024 being a leap year.
It fell by 5.2 per cent on a monthly basis.
Petrol consumption rose by 4.6 per cent y-o-y to 3.16 MT last month.
It fell by almost 4 per cent on a monthly basis.
