Bangalore airport faces GMR heat

The management of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is likely to come under pressure to follow GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd's (GHIAL) model to spare domestic passengers from the contentious user development fee (UDF). Budget 2008-09
GHIAL on Monday decided to levy $25 (about Rs 1,000) as UDF on international passengers from the new airport at Shamshabad, which is scheduled to open from the midnight of March 15.
BIAL, which begins operations from March 30, will not follow a cross-subsidisation tariff policy. It will be charge a UDF of Rs 675 on domestic passengers and Rs 955 on international passengers.
BIAL chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Brunner asserted that it would not be fair to levy charges on international passengers and spare the domestic passengers when both of them would be using the same infrastructure.
However, despite the BIAL chief's refusal to oblige, domestic carriers are gearing up to lobby for a waiver of the fee on the domestic sector.
04/03/08 Chitti C Pantulu & Praveena Sharma/ DNA Money/Sify

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Categories: Airports Mar 2008