In what seems to be a major blow to the aviation industry, jet fuel prices or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been hiked by 16.3 per cent, marking the second straight increase in rates this month.

Fuel prices, on the other hand, continued for the 10th day in a row on the back of firming international oil rates. On Tuesday, Petrol and diesel was up by 47 paise per litre and 93 paise per litre respectively.

ATF price was hiked by Rs 5,494.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 16.3 per cent, to Rs 39,069.87 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies.

Earlier on June 1, ATF rates were hiked by a record 56.5 per cent (Rs 12,126.75 per kl). This hike in jet fuel price had come after seven consecutive reductions in rates since February.

On the other hand, the Indian oil data on Tuesday showed that petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 76.73 per litre from Rs 76.26, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 75.19 a litre from Rs 74.26.

In 10 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 5.47 per litre and diesel by Rs 5.8 a litre since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

In Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, petrol was priced at Rs 83.62, Rs 80.37 and Rs 78.55 per litre respectively.

Diesel prices in these cities were Rs 73.75 (Mumbai), Rs 73.17 (Chennai) and Rs 70.84 (Kolkata).

The hike in diesel rates is the highest daily increase since the state-owned fuel retailers started daily revision in rates in May 2017.

Speaking about the ATF price hike, industry officials said the increase in rates was necessitated because benchmark international rates have bounced back from a two-decade low. While ATF prices are revised on 1st and 16th of every month, petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis.

Oil companies used to revise ATF prices on the first of every month, but adopted fortnightly revisions on March 21 to pass on the benefit of falling international oil prices to airlines.