There?s a price to pay for spanking new airports. Domestic air passengers may soon have to fork out a higher charge in line with an airport?s facilities. The higher levy forms part of the government?s plan to link user charges to the capital cost incurred by airport developers. This would not just include the cost of building the airport, but also the interest component of raising funds.
In other words, the swankier the airport, the costlier the ticket. This could also force low-cost carriers to use cheaper peripheral airports and developers to build low-cost airports.
Other considerations while determining the user charge will be passenger traffic, inflation as well as the revenue generated by the operator. Currently, domestic passengers pay an airport charge of Rs 221 per sector.