Kerala opposes development fee at Trivandrum Airport

New Delhi: The Kerala government has opposed the proposal of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to levy User Development Fee (UDF) on international passengers at the Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram.
“The letter questions our move by asking us what is the need to levy UDF on international passengers when we got the land (for the airport) at a much cheaper rate. Also, this will burden the passengers a lot,” said a senior AAI official who did not want to be identified.
“We have also replied by saying that the investment made is to be recovered and the investment does not include the value of the land,” added the official.
AAI has got approval from Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to charge Rs 755 per departing international passenger for a period of 10 years.
The approval for any charges to be levied at major airports (that handle 1.5 million and more passengers annually) comes from AERA and that for minor airports comes from the civil aviation ministry.
“Considering the political equations in Kerala, we decided not to charge UDF only from international passengers and not domestic passengers,” said the official.
The airport handles over 2 million passengers a year and around 76 per cent of them are international.
12/07/10 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Jul 2010