All airlines operating at Delhi to collect development fee

All airlines operating from Delhi will collect the development fee of Rs 200 and Rs 1,300 from each departing domestic and international passenger, respectively.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has informed all the airlines, which have started collecting the fee accordingly, official sources said today.

The airlines, in return for collecting the fee, levied by Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), would get collection charges of Rs 5 per passenger. The fee, which came into effect yesterday, would be collected for 36 months.

Meanwhile, the GMR-led joint venture DIAL, which is modernising the airport, could exempt certain sections of passengers from the fee. They include infants travelling on infant tickets, diplomatic passport holders, airlines crew on duty and persons travelling on official duty on IAF aircraft.

The exempted category might also include transit and transfer passengers spending less than six hours at the airport and passengers departing from Delhi airport due to “involuntary rerouting” of aircraft for reasons like technical problems or weather conditions.

The government had on Friday allowed Mumbai International Airport Ltd to become the fourth airport operator to be allowed to levy a development fee of Rs 100 and Rs 600 from each domestic and international passenger, respectively.

Effective April 1, the fee would be in force for four years, but would be reviewed every six months.

New airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore are already charging high User Development Fee, which has come in for criticism by the world airlines’ body International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said such fees could be imposed even at airports being modernised by the state-owned Airports Authority of India.

The massive aviation infrastructure required in India “cannot be made on such a scale without the contribution from passengers and other stakeholders”, he has said.