Holiday season travel lifts jet fuel consumption to record high in December

India’s aviation turbine fuel (ATF) consumption hit an all-time high record of 778,000 tonnes during December as the year-end holiday season boosted both international and domestic travel. According to the latest provisional data from the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), India’s ATF, or jet fuel, consumption rose by 4 per cent M-o-M and more than 8 per cent Y-o-Y.

Before this, jet fuel usage had hit a high of 757,000 tonnes during October 2024 and 758,000 tonnes during March 2024.

In Q3 FY25, India’s cumulative jet fuel consumption stood at an all time high record of 2.28 MT aided by higher usage that was generally driven by festival, marriage and vacation travel.

A senior official with an oil marketing company (OMC) said that historically also jet fuel consumption hits a high during vacations—both summers and winters.

“December sees a lot of foreign and domestic travel, particularly for vacations. Besides, some travel is also for year-end retreats by companies, which also boosts air travel. Last month witnessed a lot of travel, particularly after December 15-16 when major holiday season activity begins,” the official added.

More than 14.64 crore passengers flew domestically during January-November 2024, a growth of 6 per cent Y-o-Y. The daily passenger traffic surpassed the five-lakh mark on four occasions in the last two months with the latest being on November 17 with 3,173 flights carrying around 5.05 lakh domestic passengers.

During November 2024, around 1.43 crore passengers flew domestically compared to 1.27 crore a year ago. In October, domestic passengers stood at 1.36 crore. December 2024 numbers are yet to come.

More Indians are travelling via air for business and leisure, a development that has propelled jet fuel demand to scale record highs in the world’s fastest growing air passenger market with the trend likely to continue in FY25 and beyond. This is being driven by an improvement in airport infrastructure, stable cost structure of airline operators and in general improvement in disposable income in the country driving leisure travel, according to India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra).

Domestic air traffic hit a record 154 million in FY24 propelling ATF consumption to 8.3 million tonnes (mt) in FY24 surpassing the previous high of 8.2 mt in FY19. ATF consumption has been growing at a CAGR of 1.30 per cent between 2019 and 2024.

The consumption of key auto fuel — petrol and diesel —registered a drop on a monthly basis. However, the consumption was higher year-on-year.

Diesel consumption rose by almost 6 per cent Y-o-Y to 8.05 mt during December 2024. However, it fell marginally by 1.34 per cent on a monthly basis. Diesel is the mainstay of the transport sector and accounts for more than 40 per cent share of domestic consumption of refined petroleum products in the country.

Similarly, petrol consumption grew by almost 11 per cent Y-o-Y to 3.31 mt last month. On a monthly basis, the usage of the fuel, which is mainly consumed by personal vehicles, fell by over 3 per cent.

The usage of diesel has clocked a CAGR of 1.73 per cent between 2019 and 2024, while petrol consumption rose at a CAGR of 5.97 per cent during the same period.