Airlines' group IATA flags concerns over rise in airport charges in India

Global airlines' grouping IATA on Wednesday flagged concerns about a significant increase in airport charges in India and suggested having regulations to ensure all costs can be controlled in a way that will allow more people to travel by air.

In India, tariffs for major airports are approved by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) and in recent times, charges at some airports have gone up.

Emphasising that countries should be careful around airport charges, IATA Director General Willie Walsh on Wednesday said after privatisation of some airports, "there has been an automatic increase in charges in what we have witnessed in India".

"India needs to be congratulated for the investment infrastructure in recent years which will pay dividends but only if costs are controlled. At the moment, we continue to be concerned around the very significant increase in airport charges in India...," he said.

He also mentioned that IATA has concerns about airport charges in a number of countries.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents around 330 airlines, including Indian carriers, that account for over 80 per cent of the global air traffic.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation in the national capital, Walsh also said that to be fair, in some parts of the world, there is encouraging cooperation and dialogue around airport charges while in some places, economic regulations have been introduced to ensure moderation in airport charges.

To a question on whether India is one of the countries having the highest airport charges, the IATA chief said it is being in the "highest levels that we have seen in airports around the world".

"I am not just speaking about Indian airports...if the charges are increased, it will have a direct impact on the pace of growth of the industry. In some cases, we have seen that airport charges have increased significantly and some airlines have withdrawn their services. This is something we need to be careful about," Walsh said.

According to him, airport charges are a significant element of cost and there is a direct correlation between charges at airports and ticket charges.

India is one of the world's fastest-growing civil aviation markets and has more than 150 operational airports.

"In Europe, we have been pushing for stronger regulations... We believe that airports take advantage of the monopoly situation... In many cases, airports do not face competition and require good economic regulations to replicate competitiveness.

"I would encourage India to look carefully at airport charges... (there can be) regulations to ensure that all costs can be controlled in a way that will allow more and more people to travel," he noted.

At the conference, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the number of domestic air passengers in the country climbed from 67 million in 2014 to 152 million in 2024.