Proposal to impose UDF at nine airports: Govt

NEW DELHI: The Government on Tuesday said the Airports Authority of India has proposed to impose User Development Fee (UDF) at nine airports in the country.

"A proposal to impose UDF at Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Amritsar, Varanasi, Vishakhapatanam, Jaipur, Trichy and Mangalore has been received from the AAI, which is under examination," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Replying to another query, the Minister said around 3,024 flights were operating from 17 international airports in the country and the AAI was taking several measures including construction of new exit taxi-ways, using both the runways simultaneously at Delhi and Mumbai airports and opening of new runways to decongest the pressure at the major airports.

He added that the AAI had already taken up projects to upgrade 35 non-metro airports to handle the increased air traffic and the Delhi and Mumbai airports have been handed over to Joint Venture Companies (JVCs) for further development of ground infrastructure.