Bengaluru airport flying has now become costlier by 120% after the airport tariff regulator gave approval for the implementation of the user development fee (UDF) for the upcoming four months. Bengaluru is the third busiest airport in India after New Delhi and Mumbai.
To accommodate the growing number of traffic, Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Aera) is planning expansion and will be using this additional fee for funding it.
Fee For International Departures To Become Very Costly
The statement from the Bengaluru airport says, “With the Aera order coming into effect from April 16, the UDF for domestic departures will be revised to Rs 306 from Rs 139 while for international departures it will be Rs 1,226 from Rs 558 earlier.”
The charges for international and domestic departures will be applicable for tickets between April 16 and August 15. Aera will roll back the increased fee from August 16 this year. In this way, the Bengaluru airport will be able to gather enough money to meet the huge requirement of Rs.13,000 crore second phase expansion budget.
Through this new expansion, the airport is planning to construct a new terminal, a multi-modal transport hub, a second runway, and access roads. These works are expected to get completed by March 2021.
Fund To Be Used Only For Expansion
According to the Managing Director and Chief Executive, Hari Marar, “This incremental increase in charges will provide us with the much-needed relief as we are in the midst of an Rs 13,000-crore capacity expansion.”
Marar further added that as per the Aera mandate, the hike in UDF for four months will be deposited in a separate account and will be used only for the ongoing expansion. The second airport to be built on PPP model after Kochi, the Kempegowda International Airport started functioning in May 2008.
Last year the Bengaluru airport handled 26.91million passengers and is one of the fastest growing airports in the world
