Government plans no-frills airports to bring down flying costs

New Delhi: The government is planning to build small airports with rudimentary facilities, in order to bring down the cost of flying.

Such airports will be a world apart from the swanky ones at Delhi and Mumbai. As per a blueprint being prepared by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), these airports, which will be located in small towns, will lack conveyor belts, arrival lounges and even air-conditioning. Luggage will have to be checked in manually. One air traffic control (ATC) tower will cater to a number of such airports.

Can't rollback hike in user development fee at Kempegowda International Airport : Karnataka govt

Bangalore: Defending the recent hike in the user development fee (UDF) at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), the state government said on Friday that the UDF cannot be reduced as funds were required for the airport's expansion and construction of the second terminal.

Replying to a question raised by K Govindaraj (Congress) in the legislative council, infrastructure minister R Roshan Baig said the expansion plans were the reasons for increasing the UDF.

AERA hikes B'lore airport charges; IATA opposes move

Airport tariff regulator AERA has fixed Rs 1,368 and Rs 342 per international and domestic passenger as user development fee (UDF) and other charges for Bangalore's Kempegowda airport but the airlines have opposed the "over 100 percent" hike in tariff. Also Read: Govt unfolds steps to upgrade infrastructure In a latest order, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) also fixed charges for aircraft landing, parking, housing and other charges from July 1 till March 31 next year and higher tariff rates from April 1, 2015 till March end 2016. While only UDF levels were lowered for 2015-16 to Rs1,226 for embarking international passengers and Rs 306 for domestic passengers, all the other tariffs were hiked for this period. Terming the move as "a double whammy to Indian aviation", IATA's Regional Vice President (Asia Pacific) Conrad Clifford said in a statement that international airlines operating to Bangalore would now face "a steep increase in their operating costs with a 145 per cent increase in landing charges and a 105 percent increase in parking charges".

IATA wants Modi Govt to slash taxes, airport charges

Doha:   Prime Minister Narendra Modi has another admirer. But this time, the admiration comes with a request — to allow Gulf-based carriers more flying rights.
The CEO of Qatar Airways, Akbar Al Baker, said he was touched by Modi’s speech after he was sworn in, when he said that “if each Indian takes one step forward, that will be 1.2 billion steps”.
For the aviation industry in India, the potential is so huge that even if you allot capacity to every airline that is applying to fly to India, you will still have load factors in excess of 80 per cent, said Al Baker, who is also President of the 70th IATA assembly here.