Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Costlier air travel : UDF at HIAL and BIAL airports

More bad news for domestic air travelers. Not only taxes have gone past 3000, you will also have to pay an additional amount as UDF (User Development Fee) on flying out of Hyderabad, and soon from Bangalore as well. The Civil Aviation ministry has given approval for collecting a UDF of Rs.375/- per person for domestic passengers traveling out of the new GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL). However exact date of collecting UDF from domestic passengers have not been announced, but likely by August end. International passengers have already been paying Rs.1000/-(or USD25) as UDF since 11-June-2008.

Mounting taxes has already made air travel less lucrative then what it was a year ago. In fact airline passenger has registered a negative growth in last one year. Because of this, some airlines have refused to collect UDF as part of ticket cost. This may result in passengers queuing up at GHIAL to pay UDF. Something similar is being planned for BIAL at Bangalore. I had traveled to the BIAL recently. Traveling to the airport 50 km away from city itself is a headache. After traveling for at least an hour and half, one will have to queue twice -- first check in and then may be a second time to pay UDF.

Out of Rs 225 collected currently as passenger service fee (PSF), the airport operator receives Rs 80 for maintaining public amenities at the airport. The UDF is meant to enable the company to bridge the gap between the admissible expenditure and admissible revenue as estimated. This is to be reviewed every two year.