The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) here has got clearance from the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to increase the user development fee (UDF) levied on all outbound passengers.
A local court in Hyderabad has issued four more non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against businessman Vijay Mallya after he failed to appear in a court here in connection with alleged dishonour of cheques amounting to Rs 2 crore (Rs 20 million) to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd.
"The levy of UDF has become necessary in view of the huge investments made by the GMR-led consortium for creating the world class facilities for the passengers who use the greenfield airport," GMR HIAL Chief Commercial Officer Viswanath Attaluri said. The company has developed the first phase of the airport with an investment of Rs 2,478 crore (Rs 24.78 billion).
GMR Infrastructure has awarded the contract for managing the automated parking management system at Hyderabad Airport to Malaysia-based Tenaga Group.
GMR Group on Friday said it will divest its entire 40 per cent stake in Cebu international airport in Philippines for an upfront payment of Rs 1,330 crore as well as earnouts to be received over a period of more than four years. The airport is being operated by GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC) and GMR Airports International BV (GAIBV) holds a 40 per cent stake in the venture. A definitive agreement has been signed between GMR Airports International BV (GAIBV) and Aboitiz InfraCapital Inc (AIC) for the divestment of stake in Cebu airport.
The matter relates to cheques issued by Kingfisher Airlines to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, towards charges for using the facilities at the airport for Kingfisher Airlines flights
The airport had asked for a UDF of at least Rs 600 from domestic passengers travelling out of Andhra Pradesh. For passengers travelling within the state, it had demanded a user fee of Rs 350. UDF is the fee levied at the airport on departing passengers to enable the airport developer bridge the gap between expenditure and admissible revenue as stipulated by the ministry guidelines.
It has been lowered to 'IND BBB+' from 'IND A-', besides placing the rating on 'Rating Watch Negative' (RWN).
The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which is being developed by GMR on the outskirts of Hyderabad, will be the first greenfield public-private partnership (PPP) airport to be operational in March 16.
Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the operator of the new airport at Devanahalli on the outskirts of the city, has ruled out withdrawing the user development fee (UDF) on both domestic and international passengers, saying it is needed to fund future expansion. On the contrary, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (HIAL) withdrew user fees for domestic passengers bowing to pressure from public, budget airlines and the government.
A case has been filed against the airline in Nampally criminal courts in Hyderabad.
The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against Kingfisher Airlines, its chairman Mallya and A Raghunathan, on the ground of dishonouring the two cheques
The order on the quantum of punishment was adjourned for the fourth time.
It had issued warrants directing the police to produce Mallya before it.
The quantum of punishment is expected to be pronounced on May 5 by the court.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, the consortium operating the new Hyderabad airport, has offered to halve ground-handling charges even as the civil aviation ministry allowed the domestic carriers to undertake their ground-handling till January 1, 2009. This will give the two sides enough time to resolve the contentious issue, which almost jeopardised the opening of the new airport and forced a postponement once.
Out of the total amount, Rs 9,780 crore would be towards secondary sale of shares by GMR group and Rs 1,000 crore would be equity infusion in GAL.
On April 20, the Special Magistrate Court had convicted Mallya and others, in connection with bouncing of two cheques of Rs 50 lakh each
The 14th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court issued the NBWs on March 10 against the now-defunct Kingfisher Airline
The matter relates to cheques issued by Kingfisher to GMR Hyderabad International Airport.
Mallya is understood to be in the UK after he left India on March 2.
A total of 17 cases have been filed against Kingfisher Airlines in different courts over outstanding amount of Rs 22.5 crore, which it owes to GMR
On April 20, the court had convicted Mallya and others in connection with bouncing of two cheques of Rs 50 lakh each under relevant sections of Negotiable Instruments Act
Having cleared over 200 special economic zone proposals, the Board of Approval will take up 46 fresh cases on Friday.
These would include passenger engagement initiatives, consumer offers, and curated menus at food and beverage outlets.
Airports hold pride of place in the government's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) programme to monetise public assets. Private airport operators, including the Adani group, Fairfax, GMR and Zurich Airport, are expected to evince interest in the next round of public private partnership (PPP) development of state-owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports. Industry analysts, however, do not expect bids to be as high as the last round, which saw Adani group gain control of six airports.
The Adanis were the highest bidder for the Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports.
The UPA Government is trying to push through the second wave of airport privatisation before the elections and the controversial elements of this process threaten to harm the sector.
'I hope they all survive, but it is a tough world.' 'The carriers who are already established are already struggling.'
SpiceJet is the first Indian low fare airline to establish such an arrangement with a foreign airline.
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