Business Travelers, Peak Hour Flyers May Have To Pay More At Delhi Airport
A domestic passenger will pay Rs 610 as user development fee when flying out during peak hours, and Rs 405 during non-peak hours in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027.
Travelling by air to and from Delhi Airport is set to become costly from April. Moreover, the costs may vary based on your travel class and the timing of your flight, potentially leaving an even bigger hole in your pocket.
Under the proposed annual tariff plan filed by GMR Group-owned Delhi International Airport Ltd., with the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, a domestic passenger will pay Rs 610 as a user development fee when flying out during peak hours and Rs 405 during non-peak hours in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027. Similarly, for domestic arrivals, the proposed fee is Rs 140 during non-peak and Rs 210 in peak hours.
For fiscal 2028 and fiscal 2029, a UDF for domestic departures has been proposed at Rs 315 and Rs 210 for peak and non-peak hours, respectively. While the proposed fee for domestic arrivals is Rs 80 for non-peak hours and Rs 115 for peak hours.
It has defined two windows of peak hours during 5:00-8:55 a.m. and 5:00-8:55 p.m., according to the submission reviewed by NDTV Profit.
The user development fee is levied on passengers to fund airport development and modernisation. It is included in the final ticket price, collected by airlines and later passed on to the airport operator.
Notably, the Delhi airport has also proposed charging international business and first-class passengers double the user development fee compared to economy travellers over the next four financial years. If approved, this will be India's first airport with a variable tariff structure.
In case of international arrivals, an economy or premium economy passenger will pay a fee of Rs 280, as compared with Rs 570 for business class passengers. For departures, the fee for economy class is set at Rs 810, while business class passengers will have to shell out as much as Rs 1,620.
For fiscal 2028 and fiscal 2029, the proposed fee for economy passengers is Rs 150, while that of business class passengers is Rs 300. For departures, the fee for economy class and business class is proposed at Rs 430 and Rs 860, respectively.
Moreover, passengers traveling during peak hours will face higher landing and parking fees, while those flying outside these times will incur lower charges. The airport plans to raise landing fees for narrow-body aircraft, such as the Airbus A320, from Rs 188 to Rs 300 per metric tonne and to Rs 430 from Rs 210 for wide-body planes, like the Boeing 777 and Airbus A350.
To attract international air traffic, DIAL's proposal suggests waiving landing charges for wide-body aircraft flying to new destinations over 5,000 km, such as Europe and North America. However, it must be noted that most travelers currently prefer connecting flights through aviation hubs in the Middle East, Southeast Asia rather than flying directly.
The tariff rates for Delhi airport were last revised in 2019. Currently, both domestic and international passengers pay a flat Rs 52 as UDF on their base ticket price. Delhi airport made revenues worth Rs 152.48 crore in fiscal 2024 from UDF.
The current tariff was supposed to end on March 31, 2024. However, they were first pushed to Sept. 30, 2024, and now till March 31, 2025.
If the new tariff proposal is approved, the final tariff order for the five-year period till fiscal 2029 will be notified by the regulator by March. It will be implemented from April.
"The process is taking longer than anticipated, primarily due to additional review processes within the regulatory framework," Saurabh Chawla, executive director, finance and strategy, GMR Airports, told analysts during a post-earnings call. "We are closely monitoring the situation...and expect to get the tariff order issued in the first quarter of FY26."
Delhi Airport has submitted both its consultation paper as well as the tariff plan with AERA, which is now released for public review. A stakeholder’s consultation meeting is scheduled on Feb. 17, while the last dates for submitting comments and counter-comments are March 3 and March 13, respectively. After taking feedback, the regulator will issue the new tariffs.
Regulator AERA sets a five-year revenue target for the airport, based on operating costs, depreciation, non-aeronautical revenues, and taxes, along with the associated charges for the airport operator. The airport operator, in a consultation paper, has cited higher capital expenditure and debt servicing amid continued losses as reasons for the proposed increase in tariff.
Delhi Airport—the country's busiest—has incurred a capex in excess of Rs 12,500 crore for its major renovation and expansion of Terminal 1 infrastructure. A considerable portion of this is from borrowings. Besides, it has proposed a capex of Rs 5,498 crore for the five-period through FY29 for expansion in response to increasing passenger traffic. Delhi airport will reach full international capacity utilisation by fiscal 2026, and the existing domestic capacity will get exhausted by fiscal 2028, it stated.
As of December 2024, DIAL has outstanding debt exceeding Rs 15,000 crore, including a bond series of $522 million maturing in October 2026.
"As DIAL will not be able to generate sufficient cash to meet this obligation, DIAL has to raise a fresh loan to meet the bond maturity obligation," it said.
Delhi Airport has made losses in recent quarters and projects further losses exceeding Rs 1,500 crore for the current fiscal.
In the next four years, the average aero revenue per passenger is projected at Rs 370, with Rs 346 for fiscal 2026 and Rs 360 for fiscal 2027.
Given this revenue and expected traffic, DIAL is likely to incur losses in these two years as well, it said. Due to these losses, Delhi Airport may face credit rating issues, making it difficult to raise additional debt to meet repayment obligations due in Oct. 2026, it stated in its submission to AERA.
