Flying out of Varanasi now costs more on IndiGo, after the airline raised the fuel charge it adds to each flight sector. The new rates apply to all bookings made from 12.01 am on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. Tickets bought before that are not affected, the airline said.
IndiGo announced the change on Monday, 5 October. The charge is set by the distance of each sector. As of 7 October 2026, the domestic fuel charge per sector is Rs 375 for flights up to 500 km, up from Rs 275, and Rs 600 for flights of 501 to 1,000 km, up from Rs 400. Flights of 1,001 to 1,500 km now carry Rs 900, against Rs 600 earlier.
The longer bands have gone up too. A sector of 1,501 to 2,000 km now carries Rs 1,150 instead of Rs 800, and anything above 2,000 km carries Rs 1,300 instead of Rs 950. On international flights, the charge ranges from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000 depending on the destination.
The airline put the increase down to a sustained rise in prices of aviation turbine fuel, which it said had gone up more than 14 percent month on month. It described the revision as a "measured and relatively modest adjustment". IndiGo first brought in the fuel charge in March 2026 and revised it in April, so this is the second change since then.
For Varanasi, what matters is which band each route falls in. IndiGo flies from Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Babatpur to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Chennai, among other cities. By our estimate, based on straight-line distances, Delhi is about 670 km away, and Kolkata and Bhubaneswar about 650 km each. Those routes likely fall in the Rs 600 band, which would mean Rs 200 more per sector than before.
The southern and western routes are longer. Hyderabad is about 1,020 km from Varanasi, Mumbai about 1,240 km, Chennai about 1,410 km and Bengaluru about 1,460 km. These likely fall in the Rs 900 band, an increase of Rs 300 per sector. Hyderabad sits close to the line between two bands, and the airline may use its own sector distances rather than straight-line figures, so the exact charge for any route is the one shown in the fare breakup at the time of booking.
Because the charge is levied per sector, a return trip pays it twice. On a Varanasi to Delhi return ticket booked now, the fuel charge would likely come to Rs 1,200 in all, Rs 400 more than before. Going by the same per-sector rule, an itinerary with a change of plane would carry the charge on each leg, so a connecting trip can add up faster than a direct one.
The fuel charge is one line in the fare, separate from the base fare, taxes and airport fees. Most booking pages show it in the fare breakup or fare summary before payment. Base fares move with demand on their own, so a higher total on a given day may come from either part, and the breakup shows which.
The timing is awkward for travellers. Navratri begins on 11 October, Dussehra falls on 20 October and Diwali on 8 November, with Chhath soon after. This is when Varanasi fills with pilgrims headed for Kashi Vishwanath and with families flying home for the festivals, and seats on the busiest routes were already in demand before the charge went up.
Babatpur has had a busy few weeks. Air India Express is adding a second Varanasi to Sharjah flight from 25 October, and on Monday evening a storm forced three flights to divert to Lucknow. Last month the airport took in two Ranchi-bound IndiGo flights that were diverted to Varanasi.
IndiGo has not said how long the new rates will stay. The charge has now been set or revised three times since March, and passengers comparing an older ticket with a fresh quote on the same route should expect the fuel line alone to differ, before base fares are even counted.
