Flying from IGI Airport in Delhi gets cheaper

New Delhi: Flying out of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here has got cheaper from Sunday with the discontinuation of the development fee being charged from each passenger for the past several years.
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the joint venture company which runs the IGI airport, was allowed to levy Rs100 per flight as Development Fee (DF) from passengers flying on domestic routes and Rs600 from those flying to international destinations.
The airports tariff regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had in February issued an order directing DIAL to discontinue DF from May 1, after having allowed it to levy DF through a December 2012 order.
Citing the average monthly collection of Rs300 million as DF, the AERA had in its order in February said the total sanctioned DF amount of Rs34.15 billion was likely to be recovered by April 30, 2016.
To cover the financial gap in developing the airport, the allowable DF was determined at Rs34.15 billion .
Last month, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had also asked all airlines operating from Delhi to refund the development fee charged from passengers flying out of the IGI Airport on the tickets booked for journey beyond April 30. DIAL is a joint venture between GMR group, Airports Authority of India and Germany's Fraport AG.