The much-awaited Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is expected to be passed by the end of this year by when its chairman would also be selected.
?The Bill is at present under review by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on aviation and is expected to be passed by Parliament,” Sandeep Prakash, director with the civil aviation ministry said.
The Bill was introduced in Parliament in September 2007. On the powers of AERA, Prakash said that it would decide on contentious issues relating to all the major airports in the country including tariff, security and safety, access demand and management (slots), environmental issues and land management.
As far as tariffs go, the AERA will decide the amount of passenger service fee (PSF) and User Development Fee (UDF) to be charged by the major airports in the country. As a definition of major airports, Prakash said that they are airports dealing with more than 1.5 million passengers which number at around 11 in India and amount to dealing with 85% of the country?s air traffic.
The AERA will consist of a chairman and two wholetime directors selected via a selection committee and notified by the government.
There will be another director from the defence ministry to look into civil enclaves.
