Thiruvananthapuram:
Even before passengers could rejoice the starting of the new terminal of Trivandrum International Airport, their happiness has been cut short due to high User Development Fee(UDF) levied.
The new terminal can handle upto 1500 passengers during peak hours, that's 1000 passengers more than the old terminal. The airport caters to over 16 lakh passengers every year. Two-third of this being low income workers in the Gulf. A UDF of Rs 775 would be charged from the passengers.
But the authorities say they have no choice.
The terminal was built at a cost of nearly Rs 300. Officials of state-run Airports Authority Of India say that to recover the investment cost UDF is a must.
However, the passengers are unhappy.
"We go abroad to earn a living. This additional fee of around 800 rupees is definitely a burden for low-income workers like us," said Anand Gopal a passenger.
The proposed UDF structure is also forcing people to compare the Airport with the nearby Kochi airport that was built with public-private partnership.
"It's surprising that even the nearby Kochi airport built under private-public partnership has not levied any user development fees from passengers," said Muralidharan the president of Kerala Travel Agents Association.
The terminal, which is all set to begin operation, has started trial runs already. An Air India Express flight with 186 passengers landed at the newly-built facility recently as part of a trial run and the officials hope services will begin in a month.
But the UDF bottleneck could hurt these plans.
Experts in the aviation industry say UDF may force passengers to switch to other airports defeating the very purpose of setting up the new terminal with taxpayers' money.