Parliament is proposed to include aviation turbine fuel (ATF) or jet fuel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) ambit by the civil aviation ministry on 28 December. Right now, aviation turbine fuel is not levied with GST and tax collection on this depends from state to state.
Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation have written in a letter to Lok Sabha as a revert to the question, “This (civil aviation) ministry has requested ministry of finance to include aviation turbine fuel in the ambit of GST regime with full input tax credit at the earliest possible.”
Jet fuel plays an important role in the operational amount of an airlines outlay which also impacts the ticket charges for air travel.
On the question that whether the Jammu & Kashmir government had carried it to the consideration of the aviation ministry that the air ticket charges to various locations in the J&K are recklessly excessive when it comes to winter specifically, Jayant Sinha mentioned that the Civil Aviation ministry has discussed regarding the issue and contemplating on the same.
He said in a response, “This ministry had received a communication from the Jammu & Kashmir government requesting regulation of airfares of carriers operating in the Jammu and Srinagar sectors so that price stability is brought about and the cost of air travel is controlled within reasonable limits.”
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Furthermore, the junior minister explained, “In response, it has been highlighted by the ministry that the airlines are free to fix reasonable tariff under the provisions. Keeping in mind, inter alia, the market, demand, seasonality, and other market forces.”
Certain airlines provide air tickets at discounted prices on advance bookings in case of applying various schemes even while the peak season for travellers, the minister further added, “airlines remain compliant with the regulations as long as the airfare charged by them does not exceed the displayed fare structure on their website.”