AAI launches EDC payment facility at Begumpet airport

Non-scheduled operators can now enjoy credit of 45 days on payment through credit cards with this facility

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The Airports Authority of India (AAI) today rolled out an EDC payment facility for non- scheduled operators at the Begumpet Airport here.

The GPRS-enabled Electronic Data Capture (EDC) facility was launched by Civil Aviation Ministry joint secretary G Asok Kumar at the India Aviation show here.

The EDC is a point-of-sale terminal for submitting and validating credit card transactions to a merchant account provider, or some other credit card transaction processor.

The national airports operator had first introduced the cash-less payment system for various airport charges at Mumbai's Juhu airport in September last year.

"With this facility, the non-scheduled operators can now enjoy credit of 45 days on payment through credit cards, which till now they were remitting through cash payments," Kumar said.

Till now, flight handlers and pilots of aircraft landing at the Begumpet airport were required to carry huge amounts of cash to make the payments. Often, Air Traffic Control personnel had to collect the money, and it was laborious for them to complete the formalities, he said.

The facility will reduce the workload of the AAI staff as it will help check fake currency and enable transactions in a more transparent manner and in real time, he said.

Now, almost all the 93 AAI-managed airports have this facility, which is currency-neutral, he said.