The Hindu Business Line : Govt yet to decide on user fee at new private airports

New Delhi/Hyderabad, March 11 Less than 96 hours before the opening of the greenfield airport at Hyderabad, the Government is yet to take a decision on the quantum of User Development Fee (UDF) to be levied on domestic and international passengers at the new Bangalore and Hyderabad airports.

Replying to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said that the UDF would be fixed only after the receipt of the final audited project costs from the developers of the two greenfield airport projects.

``For the Hyderabad airport, the Government has approved a levy of Rs 1,000 as the ad-hoc UDF on international departing passengers. The promoters of the Bangalore airport have proposed levying a UDF of Rs 675 and Rs 995 on every departing domestic and international passengers respectively. The proposal is under examination and the company managing the new airport has been advised that it could levy an ad-hoc UDF only on departing international passengers, and not on domestic passengers,” he added.

Meanwhile, late on Tuesday the Centre issued a Gazette notification announcing the closure of the existing airport in Hyderabad and the opening of Rajiv Gandhi International airport at Shamshabad from March 16 this year.

ESMA invoked

To protest the Government move to close both the existing airports, the AAI Employees Union is to go on an indefinite non-cooperation movement from midnight Tuesday which would affect operations at all airports. The Government, meanwhile, imposed ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act) against employees who have threatened to go on strike at the Delhi airport.

BIAL stand

Our Bangalore Bureau reports: The BIAL, meanwhile, maintained it would begin operating the new airport on March 30 this year, as scheduled.

The BIAL Chief Executive Officer, Mr Albert Brunner, said in a statement, “We have not received any information validating newspaper reports” that the launch would be delayed.