Air travellers will now have to pay additional excise tax – between Tk 200 and Tk 500 -- depending on the routes, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) says in a circular.

The additional rate has come into effect on June 6 through a statutory regulatory order issued by the NBR on June 4.

For every single ticket in domestic routes the present excise duty will be increased to Tk 500 from the existing Tk 300; for SAARC countries the increase will be to Tk 500 from the current duty of Th 300; for Asian countries to Tk 1,000 from the current duty of Tk 500 and for other countries a traveller has to pay Tk 1,500 as excise tax instead of Tk 1,000.

Officials at the state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines and private operators have already passed the duty hike information on to their respective travellers who have purchased their tickets for June 6 and beyond dates.