Flight tickets to get costlier as govt plans hiking passenger services fee

Mumbai: Passengers are likely to pay more for flight tickets as the government mulls increasing passenger services fee by at least 38 per cent to meet airport security costs.

Although the government had earlier said the fee will not be raised and all security costs will be taken care of by the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), the decision to hike the fee came after the finance ministry declined to fund the deficit, reported The Economic Times.

According to what sources told the paper, the finance ministry will transfer the cost to the CFI only if it is 'revenue-neutral for them” – which is, by raising the passenger service fee.

"We estimate that the raise could be in the range of Rs 50 per ticket, which would not just help bridge the annual fund gap but also the deficit accumulated over the years," said the source.

This Rs 50 will be added to the Rs 130 that passengers currently pay.

According to what officials told the paper, whether the pay is funded by CFI or by the finance ministry, there will be a raise in the passenger services fee that will be borne by the passenger.

The cost involved in providing airports security across the country is a little over Rs 1,300 crore while the levy collected fell short by Rs 500 crore.