New Year bonanza for air travellers! 2% levy on domestic, international fares deferred

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: In what could become a New Year bonanza for air travellers, the government's plan to impose two percent levy on most domestic and international air tickets from January 1 has been deferred.

Air travellers have some room for respite, because the levy would have made air travel a little more expensive.

The reason cited by the Civil Aviation Ministry was that the Draft Aviation Policy containing the proposal is expected to come before the Cabinet for approval only in the middle of next month.

The draft policy unveiled by the Ministry on October 30 planned to impose the 2 per cent levy to raise funds to improve regional air travel infrastructure. The proposal was to come into effect from January one.

The Civil Aviation Ministry is preparing the draft note for the Cabinet at present, which is likely to be ready by December 25, following which it will be sent for inter-ministerial comments, Ministry sources said today.

In the draft policy, the Civil Aviation Ministry had proposed a raft of measures to bolster regional air connectivity, including by way of levying additional cess and providing viability gap funding.

The government expects to mop up about Rs 1,500 crore annually from imposition of the levy.

With Agency Inputs