Minister of Commerce and Industry Khalid Naser Al-Roudhan is understood to be reconsidering the proposal to introduce a KD8 Service Fee on each airline ticket booked to depart through Kuwait International Airport.
The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had made such a proposal earlier, and it had been tabled in parliament and was set to be implemented last April. But under pressure from lawmakers Minister Al-Roudhan withdrew the notion. Parliamentarians rejected the idea of overburdening citizens with new fees and instead suggested that the DGCA should first work towards improving services at the airport.
An estimated 7 million flight tickets were sold last year, and charging KD8 per ticket would have yielded around KD60 that could have gone to improve services at Kuwait International Airport, said sources at DGCA. Service Fees are the norm in most airports around the world, including in the MIddle East and among other GCC states, said the source.
Minister Al-Roudhan is now believed to be considering reintroducing the service fee and if it does pass through parliament, then it could most likely take effect from April 2020 at the start of the financial year 2020-2021.
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