Airline stocks were in high demand on July 18, providing relief to struggling airlines after the oil marketing company slashed the price of air turbine fuel (ATF) by more than 2%.

Shares of Interglobe Aviation, which operates IndiGo, were up about 1% at Rs 1,800.50 per share on the BSE at 2:00 pm. Shares of airline SpiceJet, which recently encountered some technical issues, rose 3.7% to Rs 39.55. Jet Airways, which has yet to resume operations, was trading flat at Rs 104.30 despite the license. The benchmark Sensex was at 54,338.50, up 577.72 points or 1.07%.

ATF price has been reduced by Rs 3,084.94 per kilolitre, or 2.2%, to Rs 138,147.93 per kilolitre, the state-run fuel retailer’s price notice said. This is the second drop this year.

ATF prices are revised on the 1st and 16th of each month based on the international benchmark oil prices for the previous two weeks. Fuel prices hit record highs as crude oil prices rose in global markets. However, prices have fallen recently, and oil marketing companies can offer relief to airlines.

A one-off 16% jump in ATF prices in June pushed prices to Rs 141,232.87 a kilolitre or Rs 141.23 a litre. Just before that, prices fell by more than 1% for the first time this year.

Fuel costs are a major expense for airlines. For some, this accounts for more than 20% of their total cost.