Steep user development fees a big stumbling block

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Jet for new flights to Patna, Chennai, RaipurJet, Kingfisher hike fuel surchargeForeign airlines may pick 49% in Indian carriersAI pilots stick to strike threat

Delhi: Postponement seems to be the common thread that binds both the Bangalore and Hyderabad airports now. While operations at Hyderabad’s new international greenfield airport will now start after a few days, Bangalore’s plans to open its new airport by the end of this month have been stalled by the ministry more than three weeks before its launch.

In a statement, the ministry has said that it has asked the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) to consider a suitable date after May 10 for the opening of the new airport at Devanahalli, Bangalore.

Last week, Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees went on strike due to the closing of the airports. “The AAI will lose around Rs 400 crore in revenue if the existing airports are closed and the continued airport privatisation programme of the government poses a grave threat to the financial viability of AAI and the future of its employees,” an AAI employees union official said. To this the minister of civil aviation, Praful Patel, assured the employees that the ministry would do everything possible to ensure that the future of AAI and its employees was safe.

The concession agreements signed between the government and the developers entail obligations of the joint venture companies regarding the implementation of the projects and require them to construct, develop and maintain the airports as per the standards stipulated in these agreements. On its part, the government is obliged to close down all commercial civil aviation operations at the existing airports once the new airports are made operational. The concession agreement specifies the consequences of default by each party. Because of the strike, the ministry, led by Patel, has decided to keep the existing airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore operational for general aviation (only non-scheduled aircraft), defence purposes and national emergencies.

The new Hyderabad and Bangalore airports have also faced problems due to their charging exorbitant user development fees (UDF) from the passengers passing through the airport. According to the ministry, they can charge whatever they want within a certain limit for the first 120 days after which “we would have received their audited cost accounts for building the airports and then prescribe them the amount to charge,” KN Srivastava, joint secretary in the ministry said.