Kerala asks Centre to reconsider decision on airport user fee

Kerala government today asked the Centre to reconsider its decision on introducing user fee for overseas bound passengers travelling from the new international airport terminal to be inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram later this month.

The state government would take up the matter with the civil aviation ministry, chief minister VS Achuthanandan told
reporters after a cabinet meeting in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to introduce a user fee of Rs755 per ticket for passengers travelling from the new terminal.

The state governemnt had already pointed out to the Centre that the airport was not constructed on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or private-public participation mode and hence it was unjustifable to introduce user fee.

It had also stated that a majority of passengers using the airport were ordinary workers employed in the Gulf.

Protests had also come out against the user fee from all sections of people.