Mumbai: Signs are pointing to a revival of India's aviation sector this year thanks to Air India's recovery, a flood of new seat entitlements and measures that will tackle the hot-button issue of high aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sales taxes.
Revealing this at Routes Asia, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said recent discussions with Maharashtra state representatives would see changes on the ATF front that will be announced tomorrow.
Maharashtra’s Mumbai airport is a key gateway to India, but has one of the highest ATF sales taxes in India, at about 25 per cent. One of the primary issues facing carriers in India is the inconsistent tax rates across the country.
He also said that Mumbai had the potential to serve as a hub, but this would work only when tier two and tier three cities were connected and plans were in place to “incentivise” rather than “mandate” carriers to fly to smaller cities.
19/03/13 Renuka Vijay Kumar/TTG Asia
