| It has sought the nod of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for this move, aimed at checking the price spiral in the domestic market. It has also proposed a uniform 4 per cent sales tax across the states. |
| The ministry also wants public sector oil companies to rationalise ATF prices in line with international prices. |
| "There should be a standard pricing mechanism for ATF. Otherwise, it will give an undue price advantage to international airlines vis-a-vis Indian carriers," said a senior ministry official. |
| The civil aviation ministry's appeal comes at a time when domestic carriers have twice hiked air fares by 10 per cent each in less than three months. |
| The price of ATF in the country has touched an unprecedented level of Rs 30,800 a kilolitre in October up from Rs 26,000 a kilolitre in June. In comparison, international prices of ATF vary between Rs 13, 600 and 19,300 a kilolitre. |
| Domestic carriers have also pointed out that the unprecedented rise in crude oil prices globally and the consequential increase in the price of ATF have hit their bottom lines. |
| Jet Airways has recently seen its cost of operations go up by about R s 14 crore a month, while Air Sahara's has gone up by about Rs 8 crore a month in the last four months. Similarly, Indian Airlines had incurred an additional expense of Rs 224.34 crore in 2002-03. |
| Pointing out that the cost of ATF constitutes about 30 per cent of the operating cost of airlines in India compared with 10-15 per cent for international carriers, the official said a major reason for this was the high sales tax levied by some state governments. The ministry wants to categorise ATF as a declared good to cap the sales tax at 4 per cent for domestic airlines. |
| Airlines also pointed out that ATF sold to international flights of foreign carriers was exempt from sales tax, while it was levied on ATF sold to Indian carriers. |
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