Govt may allow Delhi airport to raise fees 10% despite delays

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry plans to allow the Delhi International Airport Ltd, or DIAL, which runs the country’s second largest airport by passengers handled, to increase airport charges by 10% after having initially rejected the operator’s request on grounds that it did not comply with a 2006 privatization agreement.
DIAL, a consortium led by GMR Infrastructure Ltd that is modernizing the Capital’s airport, had sought to increase aeronautical charges such as aircraft landing, parking and route navigation charges by 10% last year as had the Mumbai International Airport Pvt. Ltd (Mial), a consortium led by GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd.
Aircraft landing, parking and route navigation charges are calculated on the basis of complicated formulas set by regulator Airports Authority of India, or AAI. For instance, an Airbus SAS-made A-320 plane with a rated empty operating weight of 42.24 tonnes will have to pay at least Rs7,240 per landing in any international airport in India, according to Mint calculations based on data from AAI’s website.
Under an April 2006 so-called operations management development agreement, or Omda, and the state support agreement (SSA), the two airports had been allowed to increase aeronautical charges after two years of airport modernization if they complete and commission mandatory capital projects in that period. If not, the “incentive shall not be available to the JVC (joint venture company) for purposes of calculating aeronautical charges for the third year after the effective date”, the SSA said.
08/01/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Airports Jan 2009