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Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 3
Certain categories of passengers have been exempted from paying the user development fee (UDF) and passenger service fee (PSF) that is charged from travellers transiting through airports in India.
Orders issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) a few days ago state that persons travelling on official duty on aircraft operated by the armed forces and those travelling on official duty for United Nations Peace Keeping Missions will not be required to pay UDF or PSF.
Holders of diplomatic passports, airlines crew on duty and sky marshals as well as children below two years of age have also been exempted. The same benefit has also been extended to transit passengers whose onward journey is within a period of 24 hours on the same ticket.
The UDF is levied on embarking passengers at joint venture and greenfield airports to fund their development or modernisation or expansion while the PSF is meant to compensate the airport authorities for the costs incurred for security measures and other amenities. Airports began levying these charges a few years ago.
The rates of the aforementioned fee are different for domestic and international travellers and also vary from airport to airport depending upon passenger traffic and revenue being generated at any particular station, projected fiscal requirements and financial viability. The rates are worked out by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India.
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