When will India have low-cost airports?

Mumbai: Last week, the dearth of low-cost airports was again bemoaned in India, this time, by the operators of IndiGo and Spice Jet. These two carriers have sought government nod to move their international operations away from Delhi's T3 to domestic terminal 1D. The carriers reasoned that they cannot afford the higher cost of operations in T3. And very rightly so. Why should a low-cost airline be forced to operate from a high-cost terminal? IndiGo, with about 24 percent market share, is currently the largest LCC in the Indian market. Spice Jet's market share is 18.5. IndiGo operates eight flights per week to Bangkok, Singapore, Dubai, and Kathmandu from Delhi. SpiceJet operates to Kathmandu from Delhi and it will be launching services to Dubai from next month.

If anything, these airlines should be at least not forced to operate from a particular terminal when there are other cheaper options to go to. A PTI report said that the overhead operational charges that low-cost airlines have to pay for operating from T3 are around 300 percent higher than same from the domestic terminal.
27/06/12 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: airports Jun 2012, Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2012