Air fare set to increase as govt hikes airport security fee for flights

New Delhi, Aug 21: Flyers would be required to shell-out a bit more for air travel, as security fee for both domestic and international travel will be raised. From September 1, domestic passengers will have to pay Rs 160 instead of Rs 150 while international passengers will have to pay $4.85, against the foreign currency, instead of $3.25, each time they buy a ticket, sources said.

Last year too, the Civil Aviation Ministry had raised the fee from Rs 130 per embarking passenger for tickets issued against Indian currency and $3.25 per embarking passenger for tickets issued against foreign currency.

The security fee is something that airlines collect from passengers as part of the ticket booking and is then paid to the government. This fee is used to maintain security arrangements at airports

The rise is expected to add marginal pressure on the industry which is already reeling under the impact of Covid-19 induced slowdown.

Even though flights have been operational for nearly three months now, in July, the passenger traffic was down 82.3% as compared to the same month last year. The occupancy rate or load factor for five out of six major Indian airlines was between 50% and 60% in June, it stated.

The occupancy rate in SpiceJet was 70% in July this year, while it was 60.2% for IndiGo, 50.5% for GoAir, 53.1% for Vistara, 56.2% AirAsia India and 45.5% for Air India, according to the DGCA.

An ET Now report on Thursday quotes sources as saying that the aviation ministry is likely to see some relief measures with aviation officials mulling reaching out to the finance ministry for a relief package that could include waivers, deferment of payments to airports, among others.

Currently, the Centre has permitted increasing the capacity to 45 per cent with effect from June 27, 2020, post the initial re-start of operations of the scheduled domestic flights, with effect from May 25,2020, to a limited extent.

In addition, special and charter flights are operated with government's permission for repatriating Indians and foreigners.