NEW DELHI: Flying in and out of Delhi may soon get cheaper with incoming passengers no longer required to pay any user development fee (UDF). Even the UDF for outbound flyers—which went up to Rs 1,131 (without taxes) per passenger—is now slashed to Rs 10 and Rs 45 for domestic and international flyers, respectively. Also, landing-parking charges for airlines have been reduced and it remains to be seen what quantum of this lower cost benefit they pass on to flyers.

Under the new tariff regime, a Delhi-London/New York-Delhi ticket purchased now will see its arriving-departing UDF component for IGIA fall from Rs 2,436 (with taxes) to just over Rs 53—cheaper by almost Rs 2,380. Same will apply on tickets for domestic flying.

Armed with an enabling Supreme Court ruling issued this week, the aviation ministry released an order, implementing the much lower aeronautical tariff regime ar IGI Airport (IGIA). "It comes into effect immediately," aviation secretary R N Choubey said.

Under the new tariff regime, a Delhi-London/New York-Delhi ticket purchased now will see its arriving-departing UDF component for IGIA fall from Rs 2,436 (with taxes) to just over Rs 53—cheaper by almost Rs 2,380. And a Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi ticket will see its UDF component dip from Rs 1,068 (with taxes) to just Rs 12—cheaper by Rs 1,056! For people travelling in groups and with families, the savings will multiply.

However, the new UDF rate will reflect in airline systems after some time. "The DGCA will have to decide whether passengers who paid the old UDF for travel after July 3 should get a refund or that money should go to Delhi Airport for being adjusted from future revenue requirements," GMR Airports president Sidharath Kapur said.

These slashed (for departing) and abolished (for arriving) UDF charges are part of the 96% lower tariff order that the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had issued for IGIA in December 2015. While this delayed "second control period" order was to be effective from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2019, the Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL) kept charging AERA's higher first control period order till now by taking legal recourse 

Acting on a petition filed by Air India, the Supreme Court on July 3 ordered that the lower tariff order be implemented at IGIA within two months. The signed order came on Thursday and a day later, the government implemented this passenger-friendly move without any delay.

Under the second control period order, the landing and parking charges levied by DIAL on airlines will fall between 43% and 61%, depending on the type of aircraft. This will lead to lower cost for carriers but no airline has so far indicated the percentage of fare cuts that passengers can expect from them.

The combined impact of almost-abolished UDF and lower airline charges will mean "significant" reduction in airfares, said airline officials. Incidentally, IGIA was the only airport in India to levy an UDF on arriving passengers and this was done to keep the charge on departing passengers in a 'reasonable' range by not putting the burden on outbound flyers only.