The government has raised the fees to be paid by passengers for security at airports to Rs 160 from Rs 150, effective September 1. The increase in fees is required to meet the increasing cost of security expenses at airports.
“In exercise of power conferred under Rule 88A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, the central government has accorded approval for levy of revised Aviation Security Fee (ASF) rates on air tickets issued with effect from 1st September 2020,” said an order issued by Ministry of Civil Aviation on 13 August.
The last hike was in 2019, when the fees were increased by Rs 20 to Rs 150 from Rs 130. Airport operators had said the ASF of Rs 130 fixed several years ago was inadequate to meet the expenses of CISF deployment.
In addition, to increase in security fees for domestic flights, international flyers, starting from September 1, will be charged an aviation security fee of $5.20. At present, an international passenger pays a fee of $4.85. The levy is used for meeting the cost of security set up at airports and is collected by airlines including it in the ticket price.
A government official explained the reason behind the hike was to pay fees to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which provides security deployment at 61 airports and faced increasing cost as passenger footfall dwindled at airports following the outbreak of coronavirus.
The cost of CISF has also increased as the force had to take additional precautions like PPE suits, masks, gloves as the personnel are in close contact with air passengers.
“The cost of maintaining security doesn’t decrease even if passenger footfall is low. Same vigilance, technology have to be maintained irrespective of low or high traffic,” explained a CISF official.
However, airline executives pointed out that with a weak demand environment, the hike could have been delayed. ” The requirement of manpower is low due to low air traffic. For instance, in Delhi, one terminal is functioning instead of three. So hike could have been postponed if not done away with,” he said.
