The introduction of the new user development fee (UDF) at the Delhi Airport has upset many of the travellers. The airlines and the passengers need to pay 346% extra , on what they have been paying to the airport operator.
Ajit Singh the Civil Aviation Minister while talking to the reporters said that the hike in the UDF was essential as it was not raised for many years in the past. The airport regulator order says that the UDF for the international travel would be Rs. 845.50 for the outgoing passengers travelling for a distance between 2,000 kms and 5,000 kms, while Rs. 699.17 for the incoming passengers.
The UDF for the passenger travelling for more than 5,000 would be Rs. 1,068. For outgoing and Rs. 881 for the incoming passengers. Dr. Sudhakar Reddy from the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) while talking to the reporters said “The operator of Delhi Airport wants to pass on the burden of its losses to passengers which is unfair. It is making losses because the airport is under-utilised.”
Reddy added that the airport should have been built over ten years in a modular fashion. He also said that the airport has been built to carry nearly 52 million passengers a year but it carried only around 25 million passengers.
