AERA scraps user development fee at Hyderabad airport

UDF is charged to passengers to address revenue shortfall of an airport operator due to lower than projected passenger numbers

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has scrapped the user development fee (UDF) collected at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad. The move is effective April 1.

In an order issued on Monday, AERA said, “The authority has decided the facilitation component of the passenger service fee will now be merged with UDF. However, in case of HIAL (Hyderabad International Airport Ltd), the authority has determined UDF as zero, effective April1 2014 to April 1 2016, for both domestic and international embarking passengers.”

The order was issued after consultations with all stakeholders for determination of aeronautical rates for the first control period (April 1 2011 to April 1 2016). A HIAL spokesperson said, “We are in the process of going through the AERA order and do not wish to make any specific comments at this stage.” (UDF AT AIRPORTS)

Currently, the UDF at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, is Rs 430 for every departing domestic passenger and Rs 1,700 for every international passenger (ad hoc determination by the authority in October 2010), along with taxes.

The Hyderabad airport, commissioned in March 2008, handled 6.3 million domestic passengers and 2.1 million international passengers in 2012-13.

Hyderabad International Airport is a joint venture promoted by the GMR Group (63 per cent), the central government (13 per cent), the government of Andhra Pradesh (13 per cent) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11 per cent).