Airlines may be forced to increase ticket prices as three private airports — Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kochi — have hiked their landing charges by up to 45 per cent. This will increase the operating cost for airlines at a time they are facing financial constraints because of the two months of grounding and weak demand.
The user development fees (UDF) for Bengaluru airport has also been increased by 17 per cent for international passengers and 3 per cent for domestic passengers.
The increase in landing charges was allowed by the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) — the regulatory body which fixes charges for airports. Airports had demanded a hike in charges to compensate for the loss of revenue because of the discontinuation of fuel throughput charges (FTC). The civil aviation ministry had discontinued FTC in January this year
