Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Aug 26: The international airport in the city will be dearer for not only passengers flying to other destinations within the country or overseas countries, but also for those who arrive from other destinations.
The user development fee of the international airport will be increased from three to 10 times and it will be an extra burden on the passengers.
Adani Group, which holds the maintenance contract of the airport, has submitted a proposal to the Airport Economics Regulatory Authority (AERA) to approve revision of the User Development Fee (UDF) a few days ago. The proposal includes all incoming and outgoing passengers from the airport.
If the approval is granted, the new tariff will be applicable from October 1. The proposal includes revision of UDF till March 31, 2026. Details of the proposal can be viewed by the public on AERA website.
At present, only passengers who depart from the international airport are charged UDF. The charges are Rs 150 for domestic passengers and Rs 825 for international travellers. These prices have been in implementation since 2010. As the Indian Airports Authority used to manage the airport itself, it had not revised the rates. However, according to the rules of airports authority, UDF can be revised every five years.
From 2022 to 2026 domestic passengers will have to shell out Rs 250 to Rs 725 towards UDF, while international passengers will be charged up to Rs 1200 for UDF.
In 2022-23 the charges for domestic passengers will increase from Rs 150 to 250 while for international passengers, a proposal is submitted to reduce the tariff to Rs 525.
In 2024, domestic passengers will be charged Rs 575 while international passengers will pay the same price of Rs 525.
In 2025 and 2026, the domestic passengers will be charged Rs 725 while international passengers have to pay Rs 1,200 towards UDF.
The proposed revised rates application to incoming passengers has sparked an intense opposition from the passengers. Only children below two years are exempted from UDF.
The luggage transportation fee at the airport has increased three times. Earlier it was Rs 100 per luggage. Now the rates are increased to Rs 400 and Rs 600 for domestic and international travellers respectively.
NRI Kannadiga engineer Mohandas Kamath, who works in Kuwait has already complained through tweets to the PM’s office against the increase of UDF. In addition, he has raised objections with union minister Shobha Karandlaje, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel. NRI Kannadiga organizations are also mulling to send an objection letter to PM Modi.