From January 1, flying out of Delhi will become cheaper. This follows the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) halving the departure fee from the National Capital.
Every passenger taking a domestic flight will be charged a development fee (DF) of Rs 100 from January 1 down from Rs 200 earlier.
A passenger taking a flight abroad will pay Rs 600, down from Rs 1,200.
The latest move will come as a relief to over 20 lakh domestic passengers and over eight lakh international passengers who use the Delhi airport every month.
Creeping project costs
Development fee, sought by the GMR-led consortium that has modernised the airport, is a mechanism to bridge the gap in finances with the project escalating.
The project cost, was initially estimated at Rs 8,000 crore, has crossed Rs 12,000 crore.
The AERA order has, however, extended the period till which the fees can be levied on both categories of passengers till April 2016.
Earlier, the Delhi airport was permitted to levy DF till May 2013.
AAI role
The decision to levy the development fee was taken as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was unable to provide more funds for the project when the airport’s modernisation process began. However, in an attempt to make air travel from Delhi and Mumbai cheaper, in October, the Ministry of Civil Aviation directed the AAI to infuse additional equity into the two metro airports and seek the abolition of DF.
Thereafter, the AAI reviewed its finances and agreed to provide Rs 93 crore to Delhi airport as equity and Rs 288 crore to Mumbai airport.
Both the airports refused the additional equity contribution following which AERA issued its order on DF reduction in Delhi.
In the case of Mumbai, the DF has been retained at the earlier level of Rs 100 for every passenger taking a domestic flight and Rs 600 for each passenger taking an international flight from the airport.
The duration for which the levy has been allowed has, however, been extended by seven years, till April 2021.
“The UDF reduction is welcome as this will bring down the airfares,’’ said John Nair, Vice-President, Business Travel, Cox & Kings Ltd.