High Court: Air congestion charge is passenger-unfriendly

While the Civil Aviation Ministry, in the name of decongestion, has proposed to double landing, parking and navigation charges during peak hours at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore airports, the Delhi High Court has taken strong exception to congestion charges already being levied by domestic airlines. The Court, however, did not accept this submission and asked the Ministry to “look into” the matter and come up with a detailed response at the next hearing on April 17. Domestic airlines, except for Indian, charge Rs 150 as congestion charge.
While Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today sought to justify the Ministry’s proposal saying it was a “temporary” move, the fact is that the industry is all set to pass the burden to passengers. This will be in addition to the congestion charge.

“There is heavy congestion at Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore airports and they all are under tremendous pressure. Hiking of charges for peak-time operations is also only a temporary measure and will help till the capacity of these airports is upgraded to handle traffic volumes. Besides, there will be sops for those flying in non-peak hours,” said Patel on the margins of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Navigation Systems Panel meeting in Delhi today. It’s learnt that this suggestion is that of a committee within the ministry set up to find ways to deal with congestion at these airports. The committee, in fact, submitted its report today and along with this suggestion has asked the Ministry to consider freezing fresh operations from Delhi and Mumbai until infrastructure comes up.

Further, it has asked the Ministry to not add to the list of flight approvals in the middle of the winter or summer schedule. In other words, a schedule once filed must not be altered. While this is bound to put the the Ministry and industry on a collision course to begin with, sources said, it could also lead to a situation where both agree to levy no fee or charge on account of congestion. Modalities could then be worked to ensure that capacity of these airports are not stretched beyond a certain limit. On Monday, the Ministry indicated that it plans to make the proposal effective from March 25, the start of the summer schedule. “Hiking of peak-time charges will not hurt the growing industry and the move is also not one that will affect price-conscious passengers adversely.

Price-conscious passengers will be able to avail the same comfort as peak-time passengers at a lesser cost (during non-peak hours). The move is essential for equitable use of the airport through the day as well as night”, said Patel. The ministry is trying to work on a system of disincentives for airlines services between 7 am and 10 am and from 6 pm to 8 pm. But the move is being seen as retrograde as charges in India are already higher to what is charged by better known international airports. And it was the Ministry that stalled reforms for so long leading to the current crowding in key airports.

Courtesy: Indian Express

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