Mumbai: In the wake of rising global fuel prices, Air-India (AI) has decided to levy a fuel surcharge on air tickets effective from today (May 26, 2004).

While the surcharge would be $ 4 per sector for all destinations it would be $ 9 for destinations in the United States.

There is no fuel surcharge for Hong Kong as it needs the approval of the authorities there, airline sources said.

A spokesman of Air-India said that the airline had to impose the fuel surcharge in view of the continuing rise in global fuel prices.

Fuel prices in India have always been much higher than the prevailing global prices, thus having a more severe impact on Air-India's operational costs, he said.

"Every (US) one cent rise in fuel prices costs A-I nearly Rs eight, which leads to Rs nine crore per annum," he said.

Many international carriers in the US have already imposed a surcharge following rising global fuel prices, he said.