Regulator planned for India’s airports

A Bill has been placed before the Indian parliament to set up a regulator to oversee the performance of the country’s airports.

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel says the proposed Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) will determine airport tariffs and charges and service standards. He also proposes the creation of an appellate tribunal to settle disputes between stakeholders like airport developers, consumers and service providers.

Under the Bill, AERA would oversee all the country’s civil airports, in place of the Airports Authority of India, which currently operates a uniform tariff structure that has attracted considerable criticism.

Caption: India’s proposed new airport regulator will set performance criteria for all the country’s civil airports, including Bangalore International Airport, due to open next year."


At present, the Airports Authority performs the role of the airport operator and the regulator, which results in conflict of interest,” said Patel. “This situation has often led to complaints of a mis-match between aeronautical charges levied by the Airports Authority and the quality of services rendered at airports which are controlled by it."

AERA will have the freedom to apply different charges for different airports and will also set certain performance standards according to criteria set by global aviation bodies such as the Airports Council International (ACI), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA).

6 September 2007