KPMG likely to determine airport user fee

New Delhi Consultancy firm KPMG is likely to be commissioned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to study how much the state-owned airport operator should charge as user development fees at nine airports, including Chennai, Tiruchi and Thiruvananthpuram.
Sources told Business Line that the proposal will be sent soon after the AAI Chairman returns from an official trip abroad early next week.
KPMG is likely to come up with its recommendations within two months of getting the project.
The levy, which KPMG is likely to propose, will have to be approved by the Government before the AAI can levy it on travellers.
Sources said that the decision to appoint KPMG is because it has already carried out a similar study for the Jaipur airport.
“The amount to be levied at each airport will be finalised based on the average of the maximum and minimum number of passengers that the airports have handled over a fixed period of time, which could be three or five years.
The numbers will be juxtaposed against future traffic projections and the quantum of funds that will be required to build modern world class airports to come up with a figure which could be levied as a fee,” sources said.
The Government allows greenfield airports, as also existing facilities where development work is being undertaken, to levy a fee on passengers to fund the projects. At the moment these fees are being levied at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore airports.
13/06/09 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Categories: Airports Jun 2009