Air fares go sky-high after massive taxes

The National Assembly on Friday passed a provision in the finance bill to increase the exorbitant tax rates on international air travel tickets. The statistics show that from July 1, economy and economy-plus international air tickets will rise with an additional excise duty of Rs12,500.

For people leaving for destinations in North America, Latin America, and Canada, the excise duty has been increased from Rs250,000 to Rs350,000 per business or club class ticket. That means that travellers will now have to pay a sum of Rs100,000 in tax for each business or club class ticket for flying to the US and Canada.

People traveling to the Middle East and African countries will pay a sum of Rs105,000 duty on their business or club class air tickets — an increase of Rs30,000 against the amount in the outgoing fiscal year.

Similarly, the duty on the same category of tickets for travelling to New Zealand and Australia has also been increased to Rs210,000. The same amount of tax — Rs210,000 — will be paid for flying to China, Malaysia, and Indonesia on business or club class tickets.