The International Airport Transport Association, or IATA, has said levy of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on overseas air tickets violates the International Civil Aviation Organization norms and weakens the competitiveness of carriers.
Part of the United Nations, ICAO is a global aviation body.
Addressing a conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac flagged various concerns about the aviation sector in India, including high jet fuel prices, infrastructure issues and privatisation of airports.
IATA is a grouping of more than 280 airlines, including Air India, Jet Airways and Vistara from India.
The aviation sector in India charges 5 per cent and 12 per cent GST on economy and business class tickets, respectively.
Alexandre de Juniac said India’s aviation sector was projected to see 500 million trips “to, from and within” by 2037.
Speaking at the conference, Secretary, Civil Aviation, R N Choubey said the civil aviation sector in India had recorded 50 months of double-digit growth, it could “very easily maintain (that) for next 50 months, provided that all nuts and bolts are in place”.