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All fliers on the busy Mumbai-Delhi route will have to shell out more from May.
This follows the user development fee (USD) that will be levied by Delhi airport and airport development fee by Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).
This fee will be collected by the airlines or travel portals.
For those who have already booked tickets, MIAL will collect the development fee through a special counter at the airport.
Passengers had better get ready to shell out around Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 more on this route from May 15{+.}. Tickets on this route (for a mid-May passage) are currently around Rs 5,000 (one-way).
Outgoing travellers from Delhi airport flying more than 500 km will pay Rs 462.80 and an incoming passenger, including those from Mumbai, Rs 391.60.
This means the aggregate ticket cost for a flight to Delhi from Mumbai will cost around Rs 500, including the MIAL's Rs 100 development fee.
airport development fee
The airport development fee for Mumbai airport will come into effect from May 1.
Every domestic passenger flying out from Mumbai will have to pay Rs 100 while for the international passenger, it will be Rs 600.
As a result, airline companies have decided to increase air fares.
“The cost of fares will go up. There is no other choice. The return fare on Mumbai-Delhi route will be higher by around Rs 1,100. From an airline's perspective, there are additional charges like landing charges that will go up,” said Mr Mahalingam Shivkumar, Senior Vice-President (Finance), Jet Airways.
Travel agents and tour operators say that the move to levy the charges during the peak of domestic travel season will have an adverse impact on the tourism industry.
“This step doesn't promote tourism. April - June is peak domestic travel season. With air fares already so high, this move will further dampen the mood of the travellers,” said Mr Iqbal Mulla, President, Travel Agents' Associations of India (TAAI).
All airlines have jacked up their fares on many busy air routes like Mumbai-Delhi by 10-25 per cent over the past few weeks.
“India's aviation industry is already in a financial turmoil. This increase in airport charges will further push it into trouble,” Mr Mulla added.
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