Although airports located in South Korea and Cambodia offer attractive incentives to lure airlines to use their facilities and open up new routes from the locations, airports in India have been raising fees and charges for existing and new airlines.
Incheon airport in South Korea offers new airlines free fees for their first year and concessions in years two and three, with other airports offering similar generous incentive schemes. However Indira Gandhi International Airport, run by GMR Group’s Delhi International Airport, has increased aeronautical charges by 346%, even though the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Aera) had demanded a 775% hike. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, run by GVK Group’s Mumbai International Airport, increased charges by 164% in February although Aera demanded an 881% rise. Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport charges rose by 219%, while Chennai International Airport, owned by Airports Authority of India (AAI) increased charges by 141% from March 1 and will increase by further 53% from 1 April.
Bangalore and Hyderabad airports are expected to raise charges by a similar amount.
The steep charges have already caused some carriers to halt flights. AirAsia X has halted flights to New Delhi and Mumbai from Kuala Lumpur, while AirAsia’s new joint venture with Tata Group, will bypass the more expensive airports to use Chennai as its hub.