DIAL allowed to charge airport development fee

New Delhi: The first order of India’s aviation regulator will allow the Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd (DIAL)-run Indira Gandhi International Airport to continue to charge a so-called development fee from passengers to finance part of the cost of building the airport, thereby setting a precedent for other airports.
The new airport is expected to be ready by March 2010.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Aera) has allowed DIAL to submit its final project cost two months before the completion of the project. This means DIAL will continue to charge domestic passengers Rs200 and international ones Rs1,300.
The new airport development fee was cleared by the civil aviation ministry in February on an ad hoc basis, based on the estimated project cost presented by DIAL. The company was to submit the final cost details by September, but it sought an extension on the deadline till February 2010.
Last week, Aera granted DIAL an extension till end-January.
Aera chairman Yashwant Bhave told Mint the extension had been granted because DIAL was not able to determine its final costs yet. No penalties can be imposed by Aera on the operator for the delay, he said.
10/11/09 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint

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Categories: Airports Nov 2009