No change in BIA user fee till next year

Bangalore: The ad-hoc user development fee (UDF) of Rs 260, which is levied on domestic passengers at the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), will not be revised till next year.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) — entrusted with fixing the UDF in greenfield airports like BIA — has said that the additional fees are still being reviewed.
AERA chairperson Yashwant S Bhave told Express that revising the UDF, reducing it from Rs 260 at BIA, or even scrapping it was under review and that a decision would be taken in future.
“The government has fixed the UDF for three years. As of now, the airport operators are collecting that amount for domestic passengers departing from BIA. There will certainly be a review, but only after the current one expires,” said Bhave.
The AERA review will be done based on the audited project cost report, which is submitted by the operators of the airport to the regulator.
The current ad-hoc UDF was fixed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in December 2008 before AERA became the authorised regulator.
19/05/10 ExpressBuzz

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports May 2010