The biggest relief that has come the carriers’ way is the rollback of the civil aviation ministry’s proposal to hike peak hour airport charges.
BANGALORE: Course altered, collision averted.
And the combative airlines actually came out of their meeting with civil aviation minister Praful Patel purring on Tuesday evening.
The biggest relief that has come the carriers’ way is the rollback of the civil aviation ministry’s proposal to hike peak hour airport charges.
“The minister has said that there will be no increase in the peak hour (which would be two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening) airport charges. He said that since the Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore airports have reached full capacity during the rush hours, no more slots would be allotted,” informed SpiceJet Ltd CEO and chairman Siddhanta Sharma.
But even as the civil aviation ministry has backtracked on the hike of peak hour charges, it will be going ahead with its plan to incentivise airlines operating flights during non-peak hours.
The government will be coming out with a clear policy on this after some regulatory issues on pilot and inflight crew duty hours are sorted out.
“It will be a collaborative process and any move by the ministry will be taken only after discussions with airlines,” said Sharma.
The minister also assured support to the carriers on the rationalisation of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) taxes by backing their representation to the empowered group of state finance ministers.
However, Patel could not give his word on the extension of exemption on the withholding taxes on leased aircraft and engines and giving ATF the status of a declared good.
“The minister cannot take a decision on that as it does not come under the civil aviation ministry, it has to be referred to the finance ministry,” said Coimbatore-based Paramount Airlines managing director M Thiagarajan said. /R
But the airline industry is not complaining. It is just happy to have come to some sort of understanding with the ministry.
“The ministry is supporting us. Our relationship with the minister is fine-tuned. The civil aviation ministry is in a bind with other ministries, which consider airlines as big fat cats that do not need concessions. But the situation has changed today. We are no longer in the days of Jet Airways and Indian Airlines, when airlines made huge profits,” said Sharma.
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