"Indian airports among the costliest"

Monday, September 23, 2002

Indian airports among the costliest
United Kingdom - The London Financial Times


NEW DELHI: Would you, by any count, rate the international airports in
India better than their counterparts in Dubai, Sharjah or Thailand.
Well, believe it or not, the Centre does. 

How else, could one justify the fact that landing and navigation costs
at Indian airports are about 29-89 per cent higher than in these
developed nations. 

The only countries, probably, charging higher landing fees than India
are its next-door neighbour Pakistan and Singapore. 

According to a study of various airports, a copy of which was presented
to the civil aviation ministry, these charges account for an annual
expenditure of Rs 335 crore for Indian Airlines and Alliance Air. "
These alone amount to 6 per cent of their operating costs and a 1 per
cent hike would add Rs 3 crore to the annual cost burden for IA at its
present level of operations," the study pointed out. 

The charges have, in fact, been moving upward since 1994, increasing the
burden on the already bleeding state-owned airline. "These frequent
hikes in rates have impacted the operating costs and profitability of
all airlines, particularly IA," it stated. 

Under the current structure, domestic airlines flying an Airbus A300-B4
are charged a landing fee of Rs 42,700 per landing against Rs 30,300 in
Dubai, Rs 26,100 in Sharjah and Rs 22,700 in Thailand. A similar
aircraft will have to pay Rs 46,800 in Singapore, which is among the
highest in the region. 

For the same aircraft, Indian airports also charge a navigation fee of
Rs 21,500 per landing. In comparison, the navigation fee at Dubai and
Sharjah for the same plane is around Rs 2,300, while Singapore doesn't
charge anything as navigation fee.


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