Rates go overboard at new terminal in Airport

New Delhi: In these tough times for the aviation industry, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to burn another hole in the coffers of airlines. Exorbitant charges for floor space at the unfinished new terminal in Chennai has shocked airline officials. ?
Airlines will now have to pay Rs 2200 per sq metre to rent space in the new terminal against the Rs 989 they paid in the old terminal. Even Delhi’s T3 charges only? Rs 1051 with all its facilities.
“In these dire times of slow business, it is the last straw for airlines and will bog down its existing losses,” an airline official based in its headquarters in Mumbai said. He adds, “The AAI also wants us to move to the Common User Terminal System (CUTE), the cost of which is 500 per cent more than our existing expenses.”
Operators say that in spite of the good façade of the new terminal, it has zero functional value right now. The new terminal does not have any aero-bridges nor does it have the Baggage Reconcilliation System that helps airlines sort and trace baggage for different flights.
03/03/12 Mamta Todi Khaitan/New Indian Express/IBN Live

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Categories: airports Mar 2012