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Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi, Sept. 25 Flying within India from Bangalore will soon be cheaper than from Hyderabad. Domestic passengers flying out from the new greenfield Bangalore could be charged a User Development Fee (UDF) of between Rs 230-260 as against Rs 375 being charged by Hyderabad airport.

A final decision on the exact fee to be charged by Bangalore is expected shortly with the proposal being examined at the highest level in the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Official sources told Business Line that a lower level of UDF at Bangalore is being planned as it handles higher number of passengers as compared to Hyderabad airport.

A spokesperson for Bangalore airport said that the airport handles 3,000 passengers during peak hours of which almost 82 per cent of the passengers are domestic travelers. The official, however, did not give details of how many hours a day were considered as peak hours by the airport. In the case of Hyderabad the airport handles about 7.5 million passengers annually of which about 65-70 per cent are domestic travellers.

While the GMR-promoted greenfield airport has already started charging UDF from domestic passengers, the Siemens-promoted Bangalore will be allowed to charge this fee after the Government gives the nod. The UDF is levied to enable the developers of the private sector airport to recover a part of the project cost.

Interestingly when it comes to UDF to be paid by passengers travelling abroad, Bangalore charges Rs 1,070 or Rs 70 more than what is charged by Hyderabad.

The new airport in Hyderabad started operations on March 16 this year, while Bangalore airport opened at the end of May.

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