Airport changes for smaller cities to go
Airlines will soon be exempt from landing, parking and navigation charges, says VP Agrawal, Chairman, Airport Authority of India.
TEENA BARUAH The
civil aviation ministry has decided to scrap most of the airport charges at TierII and Tier-III cities for scheduled airlines in a move aimed at boosting connectivity to remote areas. Airlines will be exempt from landing charges, parking charges and navigation charges. The government has also decided to do away with the passenger service fee, Agrawal said in an exclusive interview with .
“I will be building and maintaining these smaller airports with the additional income generated from leasing airports like Delhi and Mumbai,” he said. Airlines are also given incentives to fly to Tier II and Tier III airports with sales tax levied at 4% for jet fuel at these facilities. Currently they need to pay 4-30% sales tax on ATF. “We will wait for the market to firm up before recovering landing, parking and navigation charges from airlines. For instance, Dehradun airport took four years to break even and will take 7- 8 years to make profit,” explains Agrawal. Airlines are mandated to fly to such areas, according to guidelines issued in 1994 with a view to ensuring better connectivity.