The Hindu Business Line : Bill on airport services regulator tabled

Air travellers can look forward to standardised high level of services at the major airports around the country with the Government introducing the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill that seeks to establish an authority that would monitor the performance standards relating to quality, continuity and reliability of services offered.

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday by the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel.

Globally a number of parameters are considered to monitor the performance of any airport. These include how long it takes for a passenger to reach their vehicle from the time the aircraft lands at the airport, how easy it is to understand the signs guiding the passengers, the distance a passenger must carry their bags to the closest terminal check-in point and whether baggage trolleys are available on the curbside, car parks and at the railway stations.

Level playing field

With greenfield airports projects being undertaken through the public-private partnership route due to become operational in Hyderabad and Bangalore early next year and the first phase of modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airport scheduled to be completed by 2010 the need for having a regulator to monitor service standards has been felt.

In the case of Delhi and Hyderabad alone the Government has laid down that the minimum service standards at the two new airports should not fall below 3.5 on a maximum scale of 5.

The Bill also seeks to create a level playing field, foster healthy competition and also encourage investments between major airports. The Bill seeks to set up a regulatory authority that would not only determine the tariff structure for aeronautical services but also the passenger service fee to be charged.

Appellate Tribunal

The Bill also proposes setting up an Appellate Tribunal that would have the powers to adjudicate disputes between two or more service providers or between a service provider and a group of consumers. The Tribunal would also have the powers to hear and dispose off appeals against any directions, decisions or orders of the regulatory authority.

The need of setting up the authority was felt as currently most civil airports including civil enclaves at defence airports are controlled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) which fixes the aeronautical charges for airports under its control, prescribes the performance standards for all airports and monitors them. At present, this creates a unique problem as AAI is both the airport operator and regulator.

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