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KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has imposed new taxes and increased already existing taxes and the latest hike will be effective from Sunday (Jan 1, 2012), Dawn has learnt.
According to sources, international passengers will be paying up to Rs1,720 additionally while domestic travellers will be paying Rs200 additionally.
The increase is applicable even to the tickets purchased earlier if the journey starts on or after Sunday (Jan 1, 2012).
The sources said that the new taxes included infrastructure development charges, security charges and airport tax.
They said that keeping in view the continuous fall of the value of the rupee the new charges imposed on international passengers were in dollars. As the dollar appreciated the income of the CAA would increase in rupee terms, they said.
Responding to Dawn queries, CAA spokesperson Ismail Khoso confirmed that the additional financial burden had been put on the passengers starting their journey from Pakistani airports from Jan 1, 2012, but insisted that the charges were still the lowest in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries.
International flights: The embarkation fee for business and first-class passengers which earlier was Rs1,000 has been increased and now they will have to pay Rs2,000; whereas economy class passengers who earlier paid Rs500 will now be charged Rs1,000.
A new tax, infrastructure development charges, has been introduced and it will be charged in dollars. The tax is $6 that currently has been put on a par with Rs540 but is subject to change as the dollar value fluctuates.
Another new tax, security charges, has been introduced and will be charged in dollars at the rate of $2, which currently has been put on a par with Rs180 and will change with the changing dollar value.
The total increase in fare for international passengers comes to Rs1,720 for first and business class while economy class passengers will have to pay an additional amount of Rs1,220.
Domestic flights: The embarkation fee which was earlier being charged at Rs120 per passenger for all classes has been revised and increased and now every passenger will be paying Rs300.
A new tax, government airport tax, has been introduced for domestic passengers at the flat rate of Rs20 per passenger regardless of the class the passenger travelled in.
The total increase in fare for domestic passengers will be Rs200.
Responding to Dawn queries, PIA spokesperson Syed Sultan Hassan said that the airline would start collecting these additional charges on the tickets purchased before Jan 1, 2012 in cash at the boarding counters before issuing boards cards at all airports in the country.
He said that the airline would just be collecting these charges on behalf of the CAA and they would be given to the CAA.
He said that a big chunk of the airline ticket price comprised different taxes which were just collected by the airline and then passed on to the relevant organisation(s).
Responding to Dawn queries, the CAA spokesperson said that the CAA had also revised the route navigation and airport charges that it collected from the airlines using Pakistani airports and also those flying over the country using its airspace.
