No final decision on UDF at BIA

No final decision on UDF at BIA
DH News Service, Bangalore:

A delegation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) led by its secretary Ashok Chawla arrived here on Tuesday and visited the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) here on Tuesday. But the meet was inconclusive as no final decision was taken by the high powered team.

With this, key issues related to passenger infrastructure at the new airport, quantum of user development fee (UDF) to be implemented for domestic passengers and reopening of the old HAL airport for short haul domestic flights remain unresolved.

The BIA has been under the scanner of the MoCA ever since its commissioning on May 24 with issues of the airport capacity being saturated, lack of adequate passenger amenities and terminal expansion plans.

However, there’s good news for domestic passengers departing from the BIA. The airport authorities will not implement the much debated UDF for domestic flights from August 24, when it completed three months of commercial operations as the MoCA has communicated to the BIA, that it will have to first look into the audited project cost reported that has been submitted.

Jt Secretary to the MoCA, K N Shrivastava told Deccan Herald, “We have received the audited project cost report submitted by BIA, only on Friday. The report explains the revenue gap and the time taken to break even among other issues. It will have to be evaluated first and only then decide on the amount of UDF the BIA will be allowed to implement. We have three months time to evaluate the report and come out with a final decision. Until then, the UDF cannot be implemented,” he said.

The MoCA had however cleared the UDF proposal of the Hyderabad International Airport by allowing them to charge Rs 375 on domestic passengers. The BIA has requested for an UDF of Rs 675 to be implemented by them. The team also discussed the passenger capacity and terminal expansion plans of the new airport.

HAL to reopen?
Meanwhile, the team that also comprised senior officials from the AAI (Airports Authority of India), DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), New Delhi, met officials from the State government represented by Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao later in the day and held discussions on the contentious issues such as inadequate passenger facilities, absence of a VIP lounge at the BIA and the debated issue that the BIA does not confirm to world class standards.

“On the issue of reopening the old HAL airport, the government and the team discussed the submissions to be made to the Karnataka High Court at the 22 August hearing of the petition related to reopening of the HAL airport,” the sources added.

PARKING
Karnataka City Taxi Operators Association led by its president T Prabhakhar staged a protest at the office of the BIAL (Bengaluru International Airport Limited), here on Tuesday to demand a parking bay at the new airport.
Mr Prabhakar said the association later met BIAL officials and requested a parking bay. “Let us also be allowed to function at the BIA. Our fares are lesser than other taxi operators. We are just asking for parking space at the airport. Let passengers decide on a ‘Park and Pick-Up’ basis,” he said. The association also said that BIA has assured them that it would consider their demand. About 4000 vehicles were functioning from the HAL airport. They are all jobless added Mr Prabhakhar.