Airport charges account for only 5-6% of airfares and are linked to the investment needed to expand infrastructure, a senior GMR executive said while defending the rising cost of airport operations.
He said charges were linked to the scale of capital investment required to keep pace with the growth in air traffic. “The more capital the airport industry goes into the project, the airport charges are going to grow,” he said, adding that passenger traffic at major airports had grown at double-digit rates in recent years and at around 18-20% before the Covid-19 pandemic. Kishore said, pointing to the need for airports to prepare for the large number of aircraft being added by airlines. He said the increase in charges needed to be viewed in the context of the infrastructure required to support the industry’s expansion. Kishore also said airport operators were looking to improve the use of existing infrastructure rather than rely only on fresh capital expenditure. GMR, he said, had been working to increase terminal throughput through technology without compromising passenger experience.
“When markets are growing, if I don’t do the capital infrastructure, where will all the aircraft be parked?
