Centre hikes airport charges

The government has decided to increase airport charges at all Airports Authority of India (AAI)-operated non-major metro airports by 5 per cent per annum, effective April 1, 2017. Accordingly, the passenger service fee, which is charged as a part of the air ticket fare, will increase from Rs 85 per passenger at present to Rs 89 in 2017-18 and subsequently to Rs 93 in 2018-19 and Rs 98 in 2019-20. The increase in fares will be applicable for non-major airports including Amritsar, Nagpur, Bagdogra, Madurai, Vijayawada, Jammu and Vadadora that handle an annual traffic of less than 1.5 million passengers. Besides, the user development fee at the Amritsar, Udaipur, Tiruchirappalli and Varanasi airports has also been raised from current Rs 165 to Rs 173 in 2017-18. Furthermore, the MoCA has also increased landing, parking and route navigation charges at all AAI airports to be paid by airlines, by 5 per cent per annum.