The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India has recognised Dehradun Airport as a major airport, a proposal which was put forth by the Airports Authority of India. The authority is the economic regulator for tariff determination at major airports.
The authority recognises airports as ‘major’ ones if the annual passenger traffic is over 3.5 million. The Airports Authority of India in July submitted the proposal before the economic regulator and shared a detailed plan earlier in October with regard to enhancing the passenger handling capacity of the airport to 4.47 million passengers per annum from the existing capacity of 0.40 million passengers per annum.
The airport located in Uttarakhand and also known as Jolly Grant Airport, recorded passenger throughput of 1.60 million passengers per annum in 2023-24, well beyond its existing capacity and the Airports Authority of India estimates that the airport will serve passenger traffic of 4.37 million passengers per annum by 2033-34.
“The authority has examined the proposal of AAI and notes that AAI has incurred a capex amounting to Rs. 483.05 crores for FY 2023-24 in two phases for the enhancement of passenger terminal building to cater to the present and future traffic growth at Dehradun airport,” the regulator said in an order.
“…the authority hereby declares the Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun as a “major airport” under section 2 (i) of AERAAct, 2008, effective from 01.04.2024,” the order stated.
AERA’s mandate is to determine the aeronautical tariffs at major airports which includes airport development and passenger fee, improve airports’ efficiency, monitor performance standards relating to quality, continuity and reliability of services, encourage investments, among others.
The Airports Authority of India will now have to submit a multi-year tariff proposal to the economic regulator within three months from the date of issuance of the order. AERA regulates the tariffs for major airports, while AAI regulates the same for non-major airports .
