JOIN USThe passenger service fee collected in airports is increasing by the year, with fliers coughing up Rs 1,460.7 crore in the last fiscal. This is an increase of 22.03% from the previous fee.
Delhi tops the list with Rs 308.83 crore, which is more than half of the fee collected by other government-run airports.
The passenger service fee is primarily used for meeting the cost of deployment of the
security personnel.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the increase in the amount is not due to the rise in the fee.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently told the Lok Sabha that there was no proposal under consideration to increase the rate of passenger service fee. While Rs 1,087 crore was collected in 2013-14, it was Rs 1,196.95 crore the next fiscal. It again rose to Rs 1,460.7 crore in 2015-16.
Of this, the government-run airports collected Rs 610.07 crore in the last three fiscals, while the Mumbai airport got Rs 238.13 crore, Hyderabad Rs 102.79 crore, Benagluru Rs 123.78 crore, Nagpur Rs 10.45 crore and Kochi Rs 66.85 crore.
For Delhi, the collection rose by Rs 76.57 crore to touch Rs 308.63 crore last fiscal, which was a 32.99% hike from 2014-15. The highest percentage in the rise was reported from the Hyderabad airport where there was a 47.85% hike.
The Bengaluru airport also had an increase of Rs 24.24 crore in the collection of passenger fee between 2014-15.