Passengers will soon have to pay more for flying from Chennai. The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages and owns the airport, has proposed a User Development Fee (UDF) of Rs 165 on every passenger boarding a domestic flight and Rs 667 on every passenger for an international flight from the airport.
Other charges
AAI has proposed to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) that UDF be levied from January 1, 2013. The AERA will take a final decision on the amount.
However, flyers from Chennai will have to pay more than the UDF because the AAI has also proposed an increase in other charges. The State-owned airport operator has proposed a 118 per cent increase in international landing charges and a 48 per cent increase in domestic landing charges. In addition, it has proposed a minimum fee of Rs 5,000 per landing on all flights. AERA will also take a final decision on hiking these charges after consulting various stakeholders.
Currently, Delhi imposes a UDF of Rs 200 on every domestic passenger while an international passenger pays Rs 1,300 per flight.
Traditionally, airlines pass on any increase in airport charges to passengers.
Delhi airport
In the case of Delhi airport, when the airport operator hiked rates by close to 346 per cent in April, a senior executive of a private airline had said that the “entire cost increase will be passed on to the passenger,” without getting into details of specific price increase on domestic routes.
Similarly, a senior official of an international airline had estimated that the latest revision in rates could see travel to and from Delhi increase by $50-100.
Justifying the proposed increase in charges, AAI has pointed out that airport tariffs had not been revised since 2001, except for a 10 per cent hike in 2009 for all its airports.
AAI has proposed to hold the rates for cargo services till 2015-16.
> ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
(This report has been corrected for factual error.)