$25 UDF for international passengers at Hyderabad airport

April 15, 2008 17:00 IST

International passengers departing from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad from April 23 onwards will have to pay Rs 1,000 ($25) towards user development fees (UDF).

Announcing this in a statement, the new airport developer -- GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited -- said that the fees would be collected with the approval of the ministry of civil aviation.

'This charge will be collected as part of the ticket issued by the airlines/travel agents etc. All the international departing passengers may kindly note that in case the UDF has not been collected by the airlines, then the same will be collected at the airport before issue of boarding pass from 0001 hours on April 23 onwards,' the GHIAL statement said.

The GHIAL said that the UDF can be paid either in US dollars or in Indian currency. It would be constant at Rs 1,000 or $25,

irrespective of the dollar value.

The GHIAL has opened separate counters for the collection of UDF.

However, the domestic passengers departing from the airport do not have to pay the UDF for the time being. The issue will be decided after the submission of the annual audited statement of the airport operator to the Ministry of Civil Aviation next month.

Meanwhile, the RGIA which complete 22 days of commercial operations till Monday, has handled around 440,000 passengers -- that is, 66,000 international passengers and 374,000 domestic passengers. The airport handled 5,679 flights (2,839 landings and 2,840 take-offs) during this period.