The Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) plan to demand hike in landing and parking charges has piqued the airlines. The airlines do not want any hike in airport charges and instead are asking the operators to increase cash flow by lower tariffs to get more footfalls. But the airports have also begun citing massive losses and nonpayment of dues from nearly bankrupt airlines.
Airlines are in a very bad shape with Air India and Kingfisher running up huge past dues that they are unable to pay. “We were avoiding seeking a hike in airport charges at this juncture, but now it has become unavoidable for us too as AAI has been augmenting infrastructure in form of new terminals and runways across the country. We need at least a 200 per cent hike and will move Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) soon,” said a senior AAI official. Airlines and other stakeholders are opposing the hike in airport charges. They are also opposing the new levy called user development fee that Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) wants to charge from April. Some airlines have announced withdrawal of flights from Delhi and others threaten to do so, as IGI Airport has already approved an over threefold hike from April. The International Air Transport Association pointed out at a recent AERA meet to discuss the proposed hike at Delhi airport that IGI would have the highest (user) charges in the world if the 334 per cent hike comes through. It called for a review of the agreement under which DIAL shares 46 per cent of its revenue with AAI. Both foreign airlines and national ones like Air India, Indi-Go and SpiceJet opposed the hike, with Kamal Hingorani, Senior VP, SppiceJet, claiming that such a move could even lead to closure of some airlines, according to a report by The Times of India.
Click here to see the original article>Airlines are in a very bad shape with Air India and Kingfisher running up huge past dues that they are unable to pay. “We were avoiding seeking a hike in airport charges at this juncture, but now it has become unavoidable for us too as AAI has been augmenting infrastructure in form of new terminals and runways across the country. We need at least a 200 per cent hike and will move Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) soon,” said a senior AAI official. Airlines and other stakeholders are opposing the hike in airport charges. They are also opposing the new levy called user development fee that Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) wants to charge from April. Some airlines have announced withdrawal of flights from Delhi and others threaten to do so, as IGI Airport has already approved an over threefold hike from April. The International Air Transport Association pointed out at a recent AERA meet to discuss the proposed hike at Delhi airport that IGI would have the highest (user) charges in the world if the 334 per cent hike comes through. It called for a review of the agreement under which DIAL shares 46 per cent of its revenue with AAI. Both foreign airlines and national ones like Air India, Indi-Go and SpiceJet opposed the hike, with Kamal Hingorani, Senior VP, SppiceJet, claiming that such a move could even lead to closure of some airlines, according to a report by The Times of India.