Kinshasa, July 17th, 2021 (CPA) .- The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has, thanks to the advocacy of the Minister of National Economy, Jean-Marie Kalumba Yuma, reduced the charges on the ticket price structure plane through Congolese airspace.
Mr. Jean-Marie Kalumba announced this Thursday, during the hearing he granted to the officials of the airlines, the Federation of Enterprises of Congo (FEC), the Civil Aviation Authority ( AAC) and the Airways Authority (RVA).
Among the charges that favored the rise in the price of airline tickets, he noted the reduction in the import authorization tax for an airplane from 70,000 (seventy thousand) US dollars to 10,000 (ten thousand) USD, the parking fee which was negotiated at 250 (two hundred and fifty) USD in N’Djili against 30 USD and 50 USD in neighboring countries); reduction of RVA taxes, exemption from customs duties on the import and export of spare parts and other aircraft consumables, the establishment of a lean mechanism for the clearance of spare parts and extraction of the safety and security charge of the RVA from the price of the ticket.
In the same framework, the government of the Republic has also decided to reduce the rate of the value added tax (VAT) from 16% to 8% on the air transport tariff. According to Minister Kalumba, the demands of operators in the air transport sector have grown by 80%.
The same source also points out that the aviators’ request to lower the price of fuel to 0.5 USD per liter was deemed unrealistic in the sense that the Ministry of the National Economy and the oil companies are still continuing talks on the price structure of petroleum products.
« We would like to thank Minister Jean-Marie Kalumba Yuma for having been our spokesperson at the level of the Council of Ministers, for having obtained significant advantages in our favor. We would also like to thank him for his cooperative and diplomatic spirit aimed at getting things done. And I am sure that we are on the right track « , admitted to the press, the general manager of the airline » Kin Avia « , said Jacobs Erik.
The Deputy General Director of the AAC-RDC, Hyppolite Mwaka, the economic operators of the air transport sector leave with a feeling of satisfaction to have been heard by the responsible minister before affirming that this sector must go forward because this meeting was of importance not to be demonstrated.
As a reminder, the ninth meeting of the Council of Ministers indicated that the efforts of the government of the Republic should lead to a reduction in the cost of plane tickets on all routes. This decrease should vary between 45% and 70%, depending on the routes and for illustration, a Kinshasa – Goma ticket could be bought at less than 200 (two hundred) USD instead of 340 USD and that of Kinshasa – Gbadolite. will be around $ 150 instead of $ 480 (four hundred and eighty).
These results will be sanctioned by appropriate legal texts that the Minister of National Economy will soon submit to government authorities for approval, it is said. ACP/