The Hindu Business Line : Parking, landing charges hiked at Bangalore’s new airport

Bangalore, June 30 Domestic as well as international airlines, which are already reeling under losses, will now have to pay 10 per cent more as parking and landing charges from July 1 to Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL).

The new fee structure for Bangalore, which according to sources is also applicable to the Hyderabad airport, and has been approved by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has met with opposition from all the domestic airlines which have called for an emergency meeting later this week to formulate a plan of action against BIAL’s revised fee structure. From July 1, parking fee for aircraft weighing less than 100 tonnes will be Rs 4.10 an hour/tonne and for aircraft weighing above 100 tonnes, it will be Rs 410 and an additional Rs 5.40 a tonne/hour in excess of 100 tonnes.

For aircraft weighing up to 100 tonnes, landing fee for international flights will be Rs 250.50/tonne and for flights other than international flights, it will be Rs 187.90/tonne. For aircraft weighing over 100 tonnes, the landing fee for international flights will be Rs 25,050 plus Rs 336.60 a tonne in excess of 100 tonnes and for others, it will be Rs 18,790 plus Rs 252.50/tonne in excess of 100 tonnes.

However, the domestic leg of international routes of Indian operators will be treated as domestic flights as far as landing charges are concerned.

Also, from July 1, the user development fee of Rs 970.09 a passenger for international departures and Rs 235.72 a passenger for domestic departures will be collected from the airlines.

According to Ms Anjana Kher Murray, Head, Corporate Communications, BIAL, the 10 per cent hike in landing and parking rates that BIAL has been allowed to make from July 1 is on par with what Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports charge; the others raised the rates in April.