The Centre on Wednesday reduced Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) for domestic airlines by Rs. 5 per litre. The effective price is now Rs 110 per litre. The announcement comes a day after the Centre revised export duties on petrol, diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel for the fortnight starting July 1, while keeping excise duty on petrol and diesel sold in India unchanged.
The Ministry of Finance on Tuesday issued two notifications updating the Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on fuel exports. The move is part of the fortnightly review of export levies, introduced on March 27 to ensure domestic availability of petroleum products by discouraging exports amid the West Asia crisis.
Relief for travellers soon?
Last month, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, K Rammohan Naidu, indicated relief for air travellers, saying that the government may consider withdrawing fuel surcharges imposed by airlines once ATF prices show sustained stability.
When Times Now asked if the government is asking the airlines to remove the surcharge as the fuel prices have stabilised, Minister Rammohan Naidu said that the government has already set up a Rs 10,000 crore price stabilisation fund to cushion the aviation sector from sharp fuel price volatility.
“We are continuously discussing with airlines. The last four months have been very critical for them in terms of operations due to price instability. We would like to observe the situation a little longer to confirm whether stability is sustained,” he said.
Naidu had explained that the government is in ongoing dialogue with airlines and will reassess pricing conditions before taking any decision on reducing or removing fuel surcharges currently being passed on to passengers.
The government reviews these rates every two weeks based on the average international prices of crude oil, petrol, diesel and ATF since the last review. The previous revision was done on June 16.
(With agency inputs)