Air tickets could soon get significantly cheaper as the user development fee (UDF) in Delhi for passengers on both domestic and international air travel are about to drop. Additionally, the parking and landing fees for airline carriers have been cut down to half.
According to a Livemint report, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an order to reduce the UDF for passengers flying from Delhi Airport with effect from Friday.
The UDF for domestic flights has been cut down to a meagre Rs 10 from an earlier charge of Rs 578. For international flights, it will be as cheap as Rs 45 from Rs 1,335 per ticket.
Moreover, the initial tariff wherein both departing and arriving passengers had to pay the UDF has also been altered. Now, only passengers departing from Delhi Airport have to pay the fee.
If the carriers like IndiGo, Jet Airways, GoAir, SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India decide to pass on the benefits of reduced parking and landing fees to their customers, then ticket prices could well plummet.
The new tariff rates were pending implementation as the Delhi Airport operator had taken the revised tariffs to Delhi High Court, which had ordered a stay. Subsequently, Air India had challenged the Delhi High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court which vacated the stay on July 3, paving way for the new tariffs to roll out.
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