The Hindu Business Line : ‘Expand scope of airports economic regulator Bill’

New Delhi, April 17 A Parliamentary Committee has asked the Government to broaden the scope of the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Bill so that it is able to regulate both non-aeronautical and aeronautical revenues. At the moment, the Bill that is before the Parliament proposes that the Authority regulate only the aeronautical revenues.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, that laid its report in Parliament on Thursday, has also recommended that the role and functions of AERA be expanded to cover all airports used for the operation of commercial flights irrespective of the size of the airport, ownership or throughput of passengers. The Bill, at the moment, covers only major airports handling 1.5 million or more passengers annually.

The committee has also expressed the opinion that the members of the Authority should have the expertise on competition law and policy as the AERA is created to promote fair competition in the aviation sector. The committee feels that the law should be flexible not only to accommodate the personnel of the Defence Forces, but also experts from the private sector.

The committee has called for clearly defining who are the principal stakeholders and establish unambiguously their role in the functioning of AERA and the consultative process for decision making by the Authority.

Noting that cargo was of the major components of the civil aviation sector, the committee expressed the opinion that the omission of cargo from the definition of the Bill needed to be rectified.

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