NEW DELHI: Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday that there is a lot of demand for air travel, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. He asked seven states and one union territory to lower taxes on jet fuel.

Scindia made the remarks while speaking at the Civil Aviation Ministers' conference in New Delhi..

Addressinf the meet, Scindia said that smaller cities will drive the growth of air traffic. He also said that the Value Added Tax on jet fuel is still high in Goa, Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu, at between 20 percent  and 30 percent .

The price of jet fuel makes up a big part of an airline's operating costs, and many states have already cut taxes on jet fuel in the past few months.

In light of the high Value Added Tax (VAT)  on jet fuel in some states, the Minister emphasised the need to lower entry barriers. Currently, VAT on jet fuel is between 1 percent  and 4 percent  in 28 states and Union Territories, he said.

He said that the country's civil aviation sector was like a towering phoenix, running smoothly in a high-demand environment compared to the problems that travellers and airports in other parts of the world have to deal with.

The Ministry talked to the states and union territories about the high VAT that had been charged on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) in the past.

As a result, VAT on ATF has been cutby Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir,  Madhya Pradesh, Tripura Haryana, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh Jharkhand and Mizoram.

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