'Pay airports, or cough up penalty'

Mumbai: The Union Civil Aviation Ministry is working on new regulations that will help airports tackle errant airlines that regularly delay payment of their airport fees. When the new guidelines are in place, airlines will have to pay their respective airport fees on time, or pay a penalty.
A senior Civil Aviation Ministry official confirmed the move, telling MiD DAY, "The airport operators recently approached the Civil Aviation Ministry, asking for a solution to the problems posed by airlines who regularly pay their airport fees late.
In order to address this issue, we are preparing a draft that will ensure that the airlines pay their dues to the airport on time. In the event of a failure to do so, a penalty will be imposed on them in the form of a hike in the interest rates."
Sources in the ministry revealed that the ministry had been approached by the two private airport operators GVK and GMMR, which regulate operations at the busy airports of Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad.
04/06/11 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

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Categories: Airports Jun 2011