The Trivandrum International Airport (TIA) is the sixth airport in India to levy a user charge to bridge a capital deficit after Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Delhi and Mumbai airports.
“They say the fee is being imposed on the users because of the cost overrun. But this is not a private airport,” Tharoor told reporters after visiting the state-of-the-art terminal on Tuesday.
The airport terminal was to be completed at a cost of 2.5 billion rupees a year back as per the original schedule.
But its commissioning was delayed by a labor dispute, scarcity of construction sand and a delay in providing road connectivity. The cost of the project then escalated by 17.5 percent to 2.9 billion rupees.
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), India’s airport regulator, last week approved the UDF of 775 rupees on international passengers departing from the state-owned airport for a period of 10 years.
“This ad-hoc determination would be reviewed at the stage of tariff determination for the first cycle and thereafter at such intervals as the Authority may determine from time to time,” the AERA order says.
“The project is not financially viable without the levy, which is proposed to bridge the viability gap”.
The existing international terminal will be converted into a domestic terminal while the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is yet to finalize its plan for the existing domestic terminal building.
The AERA rejected Air India’s demand for a lower UDF for low cost carriers such as Air India Express.
According to Kerala Association of Travel Agents, the AAI would collect an estimated 10.4 billion rupees over 10 years, adding it was an unnecessary burden on Gulf-bound passengers since revenue from non-aero and cargo services would be enough to make up any shortfall.
The foundation stone for the steel-and-glass terminal was laid by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Nov. 1, 2006. With the commissioning of the terminal building, the area for international operations is expected to increase to 32,000 square meters from 9,000 and passenger handling capacity would also be doubled.
