AERA Clears Tariffs as Visakhapatnam Flights Shifting to Bhogapuram
Visakhapatnam: Current commercial flight operations at Visakhapatnam Airport, located within Naval Airspace, will end once Bhogapuram International Airport becomes operational.
The economic regulatory authority of airports is GMR Visakhapatnam International Airport Ltd. All civil air traffic will be moved to the new facility, with the approval of a special tariff structure for This will be effective from the date of commercial operation and will remain in force until regular aviation tariffs are established.
The tariff order specifies fares for both passengers and airlines. Domestic passengers departing from Bhogapuram will pay a user development fee of ‘835’, while arriving passengers will be charged ‘355’.
International passengers will pay 1,255 for departure and 545 for arrival.
Bhogapuram is being developed as a new area project and will initially serve six million passengers annually and serve as the main aviation hub on the north coast of Andhra Pradesh, AERA said in a statement here.
Airlines will also face structured fees for using airport infrastructure. Domestic carriers will pay 1,400 per metric ton of the aircraft’s maximum take-off weight as a landing fee, while international airlines will pay 1,975 per MT.
To encourage expansion, AERA introduced a variable landing fee scheme. Airlines adding new services to existing routes will pay 80 percent of the standard landing fee, while those launching new routes will pay 60 percent.
Only 25 percent of the normal fare will be charged for domestic flights landing between 23:00 and 06:00, and cargo planes will be exempt.
Parking will be free for the first two hours, after which there will be a charge of 19 per MT per hour, up to 23 per MT per hour for longer periods. Additional fees will be charged for passenger processing systems such as Shared Terminal Equipment, Shared Use Self-Service and Baggage Synchronization Systems, pegged at $75 per outbound domestic passenger and $1.25 per outbound international passenger.
Certain categories of passengers will be exempt from UDF, including children under 2 years of age, diplomatic passport holders, on-duty airline crew and eligible transit passengers. Flights under the Regional Connectivity Program (UDAN) will continue to benefit from exemptions under existing regulations.
The official explained that these temporary tariffs are designed to provide a regulatory framework during the interim period before regular tariffs are established for the first control cycle.
