The AAP government has issued a notification hiking aviation turbine fuel (ATF) from 20 to 25 per cent in the national capital. The hike is expected to impact domestic and international air travel as tickets are all set to become costlier.
In wake of the new notification, all domestic aircraft buying jet fuel from Delhi will have to pay five per cent extra VAT, which experts believe will end up with passengers paying more for air tickets from Wednesday.
Being the national capital, the domestic airport of the city serves as the origin as well as the transit point to hundreds of flights every day and many aircrafts ref-ill their jet fuel from here. A senior bureaucrat said that the VAT was being in-creased by only five per ce-nt to ensure that there was little impact on the aviati-on sector and the passengers.
It is estimated that the increase in VAT is likely to fetch an additional monthly revenue of at least Rs 8 to Rs10 crore to the Delhi government, as about 70,000-75,000 lakh kilo litres of jet fuel is consumed in Delhi every month for only domestic flights. The VAT accounts for a major source of revenue for the Delhi government. A highly placed source said that Delhi has still cheaper ATF as compared to Tamil Nadu and other states.
