Airfares likely to go down as AERA cut charges

Besides user development fees, the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has also reduced the landing, parking and housing charges for aircraft at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), a move that could potentially bring down airfares soon.

For international flights up to 100 metric tonnes (MT), the landing charges have been reduced from Rs 650 per MT to Rs 260 per MT. For domestic flights of the same weight category, the landing charge is Rs 132/MT, down from the existing Rs 331/MT. These rates will be effective from September 16, 2018. In the case of international flights above 100 MT, the landing charge is down from Rs 65,040/100 MT to Rs 26,000/100 MT. Domestic flight landing charges have also been reduced from Rs 33,120/100 MT to Rs 13,200/100 MT.

Parking charges for aircraft up to 100 MT have also been cut from the existing Rs 8.90 per hour per MT to Rs 4 per hour per MT. For aircraft over 100 MT, the parking charges are now down to Rs 400 per hour per MT from the existing Rs 890 per hour per MT.

AERA had earlier proposed to reduce these charges by up to 90%. The reduction is expected to bring down the airport costs for the airlines, a benefit that could be transferred to the passengers through reduced ticket costs.

However, the fares are unlikely to come down immediately as the season tickets have already been sold. Aviation experts say the benefits could start showing after the next two weeks. Two hours of free parking will be allowed on all stands. Flights operating under the regional connectivity scheme are expected to be completely exempted from the
charges. Landing charges will not apply to scheduled domestic aircraft that are less than 80 seaters.