Flying out of the brand new terminals being built by state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) at Chennai and Kolkata will be much cheaper than doing so out of private metro airports as Aviation minister Ajit Singh on Friday asked AAI to drop its plan of charging Rs 300 and Rs 1,000 as airport development fee (ADF) from each domestic and international outbound passenger at these two soonto-be-opened airport terminals. 

Ajit Singh has decided that these two airports will have a single user development fee (UDF) for flyers that to be decided by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). 

"The minister's directive on ADF is in line with the stated objective of the government to make air travel affordable and to ensure that the passengers are not subjected to any extra burden... no ADF will be charged from the passengers flying from Kolkata and Chennai airports even after the modernization of the airport is completed," a ministry statement said. The Kolkata and Chennai airports have been modernized at a cost of Rs 2,325 crore and Rs 2,015 crore, respectively. 

But, private metro airports have been allowed to charge both. Delhi, for instance , was recently allowed to charge UDF ranging from Rs 196 to Rs 1,068 — including from arriving passengers — on top of an ADF of Rs 1,300 and Rs 200 from each departing international and domestic flyer. Aviation ministry sources say minister Ajit Singh has begun a review of the simultaneous levy of both ADF and UDF at Delhi airport. 

The difference in ADF and UDF is that one is levied before the project is completed to bridge funding gap and the other is levied when passengers start using the new facility. Mumbai airport management currently levies ADF of Rs 600 and Rs 100 per international and domestic flyer, respectively and is learnt to be eying to levy UDF too like Delhi when the new terminal gets ready there. 

"Globally the practice is to have ADF in pre-construction stage and UDF once the people start using the new facility. Allowing an airport to have both UDF and ADF is an oddity possibly meant to help certain big players. The aviation ministry's decision for AAI to have only one of the two is the right one. Allowing some to have both is questionable and needs to be questioned," said an aviation industry insider.

Meanwhile, Air travel could soon be cheaper from Delhi and Mumbai airports due to the efforts of the government. The civil aviation ministry could soon consider a move that will enable scrapping of the levy of airport development fees (ADF) on passengers at the New Delhi and Mumbai airports by arranging alternate sources of funding to bridge the funding gap, well-placed government sources have confirmed. 

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