AAI also plans
to levy user development fee at 10 other airports
New Delhi,
April 30:
After Delhi and
Mumbai, now flying from Chennai, Kolkata and 10 other airports is set to become
costlier.
The Airports
Authority of India (AAI) has sought an increase in airport charges (which includes
user development fee) for the two metro airports, while it plans to levy a user
development fee for 10 other airports.
A person
familiar with the development told Business Line, “The Authority is
seeking a 50 per cent hike in airport charges for Chennai while for Kolkata the
quantum is 160 per cent. A formal proposal is being sent to airport regulator
Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).”
Increase in
airport charges for Chennai and Kolkata will also mean increase in user
development fee. Since passenger capacity is less in Kolkata while investment
is high, an increase is being sought for Kolkata, the person added. Airport
charges include landing, parking, housing and user development fee (UDF).
Charges such as
landing, parking and housing are paid by Airlines. These charges reflect in
their operating costs and airlines collect them from passenger as a part of
basic fare. UDF is levied above the basic fare. It is paid directly by the
passenger and collected by the airlines.
While increase
in other charges are permanent, UDF is charged for a specific period.
Interestingly,
when AAI earlier approached the regulator for approval of a development fee of
Rs 150 per passenger, the regulator had indicated that it might not accept the
proposal. The State-owned airport operator had approached the regulator seeking
levy of the fee to partially offset the expenditure incurred in modernising the
two metro airports.
The development
fee is a pre-financing levy. Sources indicated that the regulator feels the fee
should be levied only as a “last resort” and when there is no other option left
to bridge the gap in the funding of the project.
In this
context, there are sections in the AERA which feel that it makes little sense
to allow the AAI to raise about Rs 150 crore through imposition of development
fee when the entire cost of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore is being raised by the airport
operator.
Though the
regulator has said, on record, that the proposal is still under consideration
and no final decision has been taken.
No comments:
Post a Comment