New Bangalore airport take off likely to be delayed

The flight operations from the new airport in Bangalore are expected to be further delayed as contentious issues like user development fee are yet to be resolved, an aviation official said.
The stakeholders of the Rs 2500 crore - the ministry of civil aviation, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Karnataka government and the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) - will meet here Tuesday following a Karnataka high court order.
The court asked them to re-look and re-negotiate the concessions agreement signed between the airport developer, BIAL, and the government.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will review the meeting of the stakeholders and look into various issues.
The closure of the existing HAL airport and levy of user development fee by the new Bangalore airport are expected to come up for discussion.
The concession agreement with the aviation ministry allows BIAL to charge the airport user fee of Rs.675 on domestic travelers and Rs.955 on international travelers. User groups have questioned this levy. They have also filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against it in the Karnataka high court.
27/04/08 IANS/Economic Times

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Categories: Airports Apr 2008, New Apr 2008