Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has thanked Maharashtra government and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for reduction in Value-Added Tax (VAT) for Aviation Turbine Fuel from 18 percent to 7 percent with effect from today. Maharashtra has 16 operational airports and highest annual air traffic amongst the states, of around 75 million passengers, daily passengers of around two lakhs
In a social media post, Mr Naidu said that the reduction in VAT will help the flight operations in all these airports, and benefit the large number of passengers, by keeping the airfares in check while the global challenges continue to push airfares upwards. The Minister remarked that the Indian aviation industry is facing certain issues like air space closures, uncertain operations, and spike in ATF prices due to the West Asia crisis. Mr Naidu said that the Government has given multiple respites to airlines in the form of Capping of ATF prices for domestic scheduled operators, reduction in Airport Charges, and Emergency Credit Linkage scheme under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
