Your flight ticket may cost more

Facing fund crunch, airport operators plan to levy user development fee

If you are dreaming of flying cheap, this might come as a rude shock. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is ready to clear a proposal forwarded by airport operators to charge passengers for modernising terminals.

Domestic and international passengers may have to pay Rs 260 and Rs 1,070 extra respectively, as airport operators plan to levy a user development fee (UDF) to raise funds for modernisation.

"The fee for the Bangalore airport has been cleared," said officials from the ministry, adding that Delhi and Mumbai airports will be next in line.

"Though the green signal for Delhi and Mumbai airports is still awaited, it is very likely the government will impose the user fee," said the officials.

By levying the extra charges, the ministry expects to earn an additional revenue of Rs 150-200 crore per annum for the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) alone.

Similar demands were made by two other operatorsu00a0Delhi International Airport (DIAL) and Mumbai International Airport Ltdu00a0 (MIAL). Both had asked the ministry to allow them to levy user charges of Rs 200-300 for domestic passengers and Rs 1,000 for international passengers, as they were facing fund crunch of over Rs 2,000 crore, sources said.

The charges may play spoilsport for the airlines, which had lowered their fares to make up the losses they were incurring due to the drastic fall in air travelers in 2008.

As against 36 lakh air travellers in November 2007, only 30 lakh flew in the same month, the next year.

Industry experts said, "Levying user charges at such a point when the airlines are bleeding may spoil the prospects of these airlines."