Exemption for non-scheduled aircraft imports applies to revenue flights and group-company charters absent an express prohibition.

Notification No. 12/2012-Cus was held to allow exemption for a non-scheduled operator importing aircraft where the aircraft is used for revenue flights for the permit holder's employees, directors and family members, and when chartered or leased to group companies for similar use. The notification's Condition No. 77 and Explanation 2 were read together with the Civil Aviation Requirements incorporated by the notification, so permissible use could not be narrowed by implication. In the absence of any express prohibition on such use, and where the other notification conditions are met, the exemption remains available. Reliance on decisions under a different notification was treated as inapplicable.

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Issues: Whether a non-scheduled operator holding a permit and importing aircraft under Notification No. 12/2012-Cus is entitled to the exemption when the aircraft is used for revenue flights for employees, directors and their family members, and when chartered or leased to group companies for similar use.

Analysis: The exemption under Notification No. 12/2012-Cus is conditioned by Condition No. 77, which requires approval of the competent authority for import of aircraft for non-scheduled passenger or charter services and an undertaking that the aircraft shall be used only for those services. Explanation 2 to the notification clarifies that use of the aircraft by a non-scheduled passenger operator for charter services, or by a non-scheduled charter operator for passenger services, is not a violation of the concessional import condition. The definition of non-scheduled charter services in the notification incorporates conformity with Civil Aviation Requirements issued under Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. Since the notification itself adopts that regulatory framework, the permissible operational use cannot be read narrowly to exclude revenue flights for the operator's own employees, directors and family members or for group companies, so long as the flights are for remuneration and the other notification conditions are satisfied. The notification does not contain a specific prohibition against such non-business use, and the reliance placed on earlier tribunal decisions under a different notification was held inapplicable.

Conclusion: The benefit of Notification No. 12/2012-Cus is available to the NSOP holder for revenue flights used by the permit holder's employees, directors and their family members, and for charter or lease to group companies for use by their employees, directors and their family members.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification expressly incorporates the relevant aviation regulatory requirements and contains a clarificatory provision permitting interchange between non-scheduled passenger and charter operations, the exemption must be applied according to that integrated scheme and cannot be denied in the absence of an express prohibition in the notification.

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