Airports may levy more charges as traffic slows

New Delhi: Airports across the country are keen on levying additional charges as the slowdown in air traffic, especially on the domestic side, is hurting their financials.
Air traffic figures available on the Airports Authority of India (AAI) website, which has been updated only till October, showed a decline of 8-15 per cent in the air traffic between April and October for airports like Ahmedabad, Patna, Trichy and Goa and also major cities such as Mumbai and Hyderabad.
The overall decline has been led by a decrease in the domestic passengers up to 64 per cent. In a recent letter written to the civil aviation ministry regarding the approval of the airport development fees, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) — the GVK-led consortium operating the Mumbai airport — said that as against its traffic projections of 28 million passengers in 2008-09, it would get less than 26 million, which was its total traffic for the previous year.
The Hyderabad airport has also revised traffic estimates downward by 16.25 per cent. "Projections for the current year earlier stood at 8 million passengers, which have been revised to 6.7 million going by the current trend," said a GHIAL spokesperson. The company has demanded an airport development fee (ADF) of Rs 300 from domestic passengers and Rs 1,000 from international passengers.
The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the GMR-led consortium operating the Delhi airport, said that it would not share its projections for the year 2008-09. However, sources said that in the first nine months of the financial year (April to December), they carried 17 million passengers — a drop of 4 per cent over the year-ago period. DIAL has also asked for permission to impose ADF, which is under active consideration.
26/01/09 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009