Aviation ministry not on board for July 1 GST rollout

The Ministry of Finance has been asked by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to delay the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1 to September 1, as some domestic airlines have expressed their inability to adapt to the new tax rules in the short time frame.

In a letter, the aviation ministry informed the finance ministry that the national carrier Air India and other major airlines such as Jet Airways use the global distribution systems (GDS) software for booking tickets through travel agents. So in order to include GST in the system, key changes would have to be made which would take time.

“Although some airlines demanded eight-nine months to switch to the new GST regime, we have asked the Finance Ministry to postpone the rollout till September 1 at least,” an aviation ministry official told The Hindu.

However, the ministry has not confirmed if they will honour this request