Domestic aviation seeks relaxed tax policies

Indunil HEWAGE

Sri Lanka's private domestic aviation sector seeks relaxed tax policies to leverage on the prevailing opportunities in the international aviation industry.

Deccan Aviation Lanka CEO and Director Denham Schokman said the private domestic aviation industry is not developed and advanced in comparison to India, Nepal and Maldives. "It is many years behind most countries in terms of number of aircraft, range of services, ease of travel, infrastructure and competition law," he said.

"Tax structure pertaining to the private domestic airlines has hampered industry growth to a greater extent. When it comes to importing aircraft and spare parts, a 2 percent NBT tax is charged and domestic airlines are charging 12 percent VAT from flyers and this should be removed immediately to better tap the post war opportunities in the country.

He remarked that this is the time to promote air travel availability and low priced air fares for the benefit of the industry and customers as a whole. In addition private domestic airlines face visual light rules since local airports are not equipped to handle domestic flights at night. The lack of proper facilities for passengers at domestic airports is a major concern and the government initiated projects under way to modernize airports need to kick off soon if the industry is to stand tall. It is also hit by the brain drain since scarcity of skilled human resources such as pilots and engineers particularly for helicopters is a challenge," Schokman said.