No hike in air passenger service charges

New Delhi: The aviation ministry has decided not to raise the passenger service fee (PSF) of Rs 225 that's collected from each flier to finance the upcoming 35 non-metro airports.
Instead, Airports Authority of India (AAI) will raise money as loans from open market in the fiscal 2008-09 and 2009-10, when the maximum of that work would be in progress.
This decision will come as some relief as domestic airlines have not removed congestion surcharge the Rs 150 and the fuel surcharge was recently hiked to Rs 950. Moreover, the ongoing consolidation in the industry is also expected to stabilise domestic fares at a higher level. The government has huge plans for modernising airports across the country but it did not want to burden passengers further for financing the new infrastructure. In fact, the user development fee of Rs 150 that was to be charged from outbound passengers in Trivandrum in addition to the PSF has also been shelved.
24/07/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jul 2007, General Aviation Jul 2007