Get ready to shell out more for flying out from Mumbai. The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has given its go-ahead for development fee to be levied from May 1.
Every domestic passenger flying out from Mumbai will have to pay Rs 100 while for the international passenger, it will be Rs 600. The AERA has approved levying the fee for a period of 23 months to bridge the present funding gap of Rs 876.27 crore.
This approval has come after the Supreme Court in its order last year said that the development fee cannot be levied unless and until the same has been determined by the Authority.
Accordingly, the AERA issued a consultation paper, invited comments and finally issued order.
At present, 12 airports including Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bangalore charge user development fee (UDF). The fee ranges from Rs 100 to Rs 430 for domestic passenger.
For any airport handling more than 1.5 million passengers, the proposal to levy UDF needs to be approved by the AERA. For all other airports, the Civil Aviation Ministry gives the nod on a case to case basis.