NEW DELHI: Air travellers may soon be shelling out higher fees to ensure they fly secure. The current passenger security fee (PSF) of Rs 130 paid by each flyer is likely to see a little hike for both domestic and international air travel, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), officials said on Thursday.
The CISF, which secures country’s 61 airports, has dues from 56 airports, six belonging to the Public-Private Partnership model and 50 airports that are operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Senior CISF officials said that a government panel, set up to review the demand, is of the view of increasing the PSF. “ The panel is looking at a hike of Rs 20 for domestic passengers,” said MA Ganapathy, CISF’s additional DG and in charge of airport sector. Another senior official added that the hike for international passengers could be about Rs 40. Ganapathy said the dues were stuck mainly due to the issue of shortfall in collection of the PSF and if the hike is implemented, the issue will be resolved.
CISF DG Rajesh Ranjan spoke about the issue but did not specify the amount of dues from airports. However, sources indicated that dues are not less than Rs 500 crore. “There are outstanding dues from 56 airports and it will take some time before it clears hundred percent. A decision (on PSF hike) is in fairly advanced stage,” Ranjan said.
Last July, airports owed CISF about Rs 1,000 crore with nearly 80% of the dues being from Delhi Airport alone.
Speaking at the annual press conference, the Director-General also said CISF will be deployed at three airports in J&K (Srinagar, Jammu and Leh) soon.
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