PAC asks aviation officials to submit detailed response on exorbitant airport User Development Fees

New Delhi: Amid allegations of private airport operators charging User Development Fee exorbitantly from fliers, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by senior Congress MP K C Venugopal on Wednesday asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation to submit a detailed response on how such charges are calculated and how it is utilised among other things.

At a meeting of the PAC to discuss "Levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges etc. on public infrastructure and other public utilities," MPs cutting across party lines raised the issue of airports run by private operators charging fliers "exorbitantly" in the name of User Development Fees, according to sources.

The MPs referred to airports in Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad among others, and pointed out that User Development Fees charged in such facilities are not uniform, and increase the rates without notice. Sources said MPs had received complaints about such fees making ticket charges costly.

The meeting was attended by the Director General of Civil Aviation, along with officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation,Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India, Airports Authority of India, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Ltd, and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.

With MPs raising concerns over high User Development Fees and upon finding that officials' response were not in detail, sources said Venugopal asked them to submit a detailed response on the rates charged by various airports, the reason for non-uniform rates, the criteria for increasing charges and how the money collected in the name of User Development Fee is utilised.

The PAC will meet again to discuss this issue, sources said. The MPs also raised the issue of increasing airfare, especially during the festive season.

The officials told the committee that airfares are dynamic and they do not interfere with the market. MPs, sources said, pointed out that the government had intervened during the Covid-19 pandemic to put a cap on airfare and how it could not be used again.