GMR-led Delhi International Airport (DIAL), the private operator managing the Capital?s IGI airport, has refused to buy full-service airlines Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines? argument that the fuel price differential between the newly-built T3 and the 1D terminals is adding competitive advantage to their rivals.
The airport company has said that the per passenger cost burden due to higher throughput charge on jet fuel at the T3 is higher by just R26 and that too is nullified by the lesser turnaround time of the aircraft as a result of better facility at the new terminal.
The two major private carriers, which shifted their operations to the T3 last October, had urged DIAL to shift them back to terminal 1D, citing higher fuel price they have to pay at T3 compared to rivals IndiGo and SpiceJet which operate from the 1D. ?We have had a series of meetings with the DIAL management where we have raised the issue. We have to pay R600 extra per kilolitre of jet fuel compared to IndiGo and SpiceJet. This is not fair since this enables airlines operating from 1D to keep their air ticket prices lower,? a Jet Airways official said.
A DIAL official said the company had submitted a report to the aviation ministry on cost-benefit analysis of the throughput charge on jet fuel at the T3 and now the government had to look into the issue. ?We will go by what the ministry?s decision,? the official said.
Airlines have to pay a throughput charge of R900 per kilolitre over and above the actual jet fuel price oil companies charge for using the fueling facility at the airport. Subsequent to the airlines raising the issue, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) has decided to fix the throughput charge.
?The regulator is likely to bring down the throughput charge by R200. This would further reduce the price differential between 1D and the T3,? said an official.
Countering the airlines? fuel price calculations, a DIAL official said that the turnaround time of aircraft at the T3 had come down by about 17 minutes per flight due to the use of aerobridges. ?When there is an upgrade of facility there is an additional charge attached to it. But the upgrade adds up to the efficiency of users,? Amadeus India managing director Ankur Bhatia said.