Mumbai, July 13 (IANS) Business
aircraft operators Friday decried the sharp hike in parking
penalties for planes at Mumbai
airport, terming the move as "illegal and beyond
jurisdiction" of private airport developers.
According to Business Aircraft
Operators Associaton (BAOA), the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) has
started levying between Rs.1,000-15,000 per hour compared to Rs.20-70 metric
tonne per hour charged by the Airports
Authority of India.
BAOA president Rohit Kapur said the
move is "completely unacceptable, illegal and beyond the purview of
private airport developers" as the hike has been effected without the
sanction of the
Airport Economic Regulatory Authority.
He pointed out that it is the duty
of the government to create adequate infrastructure for aircraft
operations and if the existing facilities are insufficient, no
agency can penalize the private operators.
"In fact, we have been urging
the government to create the needed infrastructure in terms of parking space,
separate terminals and hangars since many years, but to no avail," Kapur
said.
Referring to MIAL, Kapur claimed
that there was parking space available in the Lima bay at the Chhatrapati
Shivaji International Aiport which is lying waste.
He suggested that it could be
utilised for parking private business aircraft and if needed, MIAL could create
temporary taxiways to make the bays accessible.
Since July 2, MIAL had imposed penal
charges on overstaying of private jets which are registered outside Mumbai.
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