Reduced UDF to come into effect from today

Air passengers heading out through the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here can finally rejoice.

The reduced User Development Fee (UDF) will come into effect from Sunday. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had slashed the fee by 54.5% on September 1.

Although air tickets will not come down directly as they depend on the market dynamics, airlines are likely to pass on the benefits of reduced aircraft landing and parking charges.

For international passengers, the UDF is now down to Rs 558 on tickets issued on or after September 16. The earlier UDF was Rs 1,226. The UDF for domestic passengers has come down from Rs 306 to Rs 139.

AERA had reduced the landing charges for international flights up to 100 metric tonnes (MT) 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.

For international flights above 100 MT, the landing charge is now 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 reduced from Rs 8.90 per hour per MT to Rs 4 per hour per MT.