Move to levy UDF at Madurai airport flayed

Madurai: The move by the Airport Authority of India to impose an “exorbitant” user development fee (UDF) on passengers flying out of Madurai airport has been strongly opposed by the industry here. They say it was inappropriate to “penalise” passengers with the UDF when the airport in the tier II city was yet to be put to optimum usage.
Report says the AAI was planning to levy UDF of Rs. 400 for each domestic passenger and Rs. 750 for each international passenger. “Ideally, there should not be any UDF at all in Madurai airport for the initial period of three years with an aim to motivate people of the region to fly. The UDF of Rs. 400 will only discourage passengers from using the airport,” senior president of Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, S. Rethinavelu, said.
Besides, the levy of Rs. 400 cannot be justified in a tier II city airport, which has no international flight operation. “We strongly oppose any such move,” he said.
A leading travel agent, N. Sriram, said that the UDF for domestic and international passengers taking off from metros like New Delhi and Bangalore was much lesser. It was Rs. 221 and Rs. 260 respectively.
21/02/12 S Sundar/The Hindu

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Categories: airports Feb 2012