By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday asked all airlines flying out of Delhi to collect development fee from the passengers while issuing air tickets, and not when they are checking in at the airport.
“The development fee should then be remitted to DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd, the developer of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport) in line with the system procedure,” a statement issued by the civil aviation ministry said.
The ministry has asked the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to apprise all airline operators of the latest notification.
The government had allowed GMR-led consortium DIAL to charge Rs.200 from all domestic passengers and Rs.1,300 from those going abroad from Delhi as access development charges from March 1.
The additional levy has been permitted to help it meet the shortfall in raising funds for the airport modernisation project on an ad hoc basis for three years.
Right now, passengers are asked to pay for these charges while they check in at the airport. Similarly, passengers flying out of greenfield airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad are asked to pay user development fee when checking in.
A senior official in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said the government is also likely to make a similar announcement for passengers flying out of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport as well as from Bangalore and Hyderabad.