Flights To Bengaluru Might Become Cheaper With Development Fee Being Slashed, However Metro Might Have To Wait

The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERAI) has proposed that the user development fee (UDF) at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) Bengaluru be brought down from the current Rs 1,537.08 for international passengers and Rs 384.27 for domestic passengers to Rs 316.76 and Rs 79.79 respectively, reports Bangalore Mirror. The UDF is used for maintenance and development of passenger amenities at the airport.

The proposal is part of a consultation paper and Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) – the concessionaire operating the airport has until 25 June to give its comments on the proposal. Currently, crew on duty, sky marshals, and transit passengers are exempt from paying the fee.

While this means that airfares to and from Bengaluru will become cheaper, it will also put the brakes on the Metro rail connectivity to the airport. BIAL had proposed repurposing part of the revenue collected via the UDF to fund the construction of the Metro line connecting KIA to Nagwara in the city.

The consultation paper proposes that BIAL can charge an additional Rs 60 to Rs 80 on top of the proposed UDF in order to fund the Metro project. KIA had witnessed 26.9 million passengers in the period between April 2017 and March 2018, making it the third busiest airport by passenger traffic in India and thirty-second in the whole of Asia.

Other airports that are currently levying a UDF to fund connectivity projects include the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in Mumbai. Its operator Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) currently charges Rs 100 for domestic and Rs 600 for international passengers with an additional Rs 20 and Rs 120 respectively to fund construction of the Metro project. MIAL is funding three underground metro stations at a cost of Rs 777 crore.