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Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi, Sept. 23 Domestic air travellers departing from Hyderabad and Bangalore airports will no longer have to stand in line to pay the user development fee (UDF) that the two new airports are allowed to levy.

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all domestic airlines to collect the UDF at the time of issuing air-tickets. This practice is already followed by international airlines operating to the two airports; they charge a passenger flying out of Hyderabad a user development fee of Rs 1,000, while a passenger from Bangalore is charged Rs 1,070.

Currently a domestic passenger leaving Hyderabad has to pay the UDF fee of Rs 375 at the airport prior to departure. The UDF will also have to be paid by domestic passengers flying out of Bangalore, although the quantum and the date it is effective from are still to be firmed up.

In Hyderabad, a passenger is allowed to pay the fee either before checking in or after collecting the boarding card. But from now, the UDF will be part of the airline ticket cost. Although the new airport operator has set up several counters for collecting the UDF, it has been advising passengers to come to the airport slightly early to avoid the long lines. The UDF is levied to enable the developers of the private sector airport to recover a part of the project cost.

The regulator has also said the airlines can receive a charge of no more than Rs 5 per passenger as a collection charge from the airport operator.

The new airport in Hyderabad, being promoted by a consortium led by the GMR group, started operations on March 16 this year, while the Siemens-promoted Bangalore airport opened at the end of May.

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