Flying from Chennai will cost more from November as the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is all set to clear a proposal from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a steep hike in airport charges at Chennai International Airport (CIA) to enable the latter recover its investments.
While airlines will have to pay more from November for using the airport, a User Development Fee (UDF) will be imposed at Chennai for departing passengers (Rs.165 for domestic and Rs.667 for international) from January 1, 2013.
At present, there is a Passenger Service Fee (PSF) of Rs.207 being collected at CIA comprising of Security Component of Rs 130 and Facilitation Component (FC) of Rs 77. The latter will be merged with the new UDF while the security component will be retained taking the total fees payable by a departing passenger, including UDF, to Rs.295. The net increase, therefore, for domestic passengers will be Rs.88 while international passengers will shell out Rs.590 extra.
A steep hike in landing, parking and housing charges payable by airlines has also been proposed which is likely to be passed on to passengers.
AERA has floated a consultation paper on the proposed tariff hike seeking feedback from stakeholders by September 13.
AERA has proposed to allow an increase in aeronautical revenue of 153 per cent for this year (2012-13) followed by another increase of 47 per cent in 2013-14.
For this year’s tariff, the proposal is to increase landing fee for international airlines by 118 per cent and by 48 per cent for domestic airlines. Parking and housing fees are to go up by 83 per cent.
“It is too early to comment. We have to assess the impact,” said a Jet Airways official. “Normally, we pass on any additional burden,” said an Air India official.
“Chennai as an airport will lose its competitive edge as compared to other airports in the region and high cost of operations would force airlines to curtail operations that would ultimately affect tourism and business in the state,” said an aviation expert asking not to be named.
