Avoid unnecessary facilities at airports, travel should be affordable for common man: Parliamentary Committee

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee said the government should ensure that infrastructure development at airports is affordable and the cost of travel remains within the reach of the common man. The committee has made this recommendation while voting against the concept of making airports expensive by adding unnecessary facilities.

The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha member Sujit Kumar, noted that most of the stakeholders in the sector are common travellers, whose aspiration and need to travel by air is increasing with time. The parliamentary committee recommended that the user fee should remain affordable and competitive in comparison to other airports in the Asia Pacific region.

The committee, in its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha, said India is a developing country and passengers are cost conscious. Our National Civil Aviation Policy emphasizes on affordability and stability by the government. The Committee observes that most people use airports only to travel, to ‘check-in’ luggage, collect their luggage on arrival and fly to their destination.

Other external services cannot be given as much importance as passenger service. It is true that the quality of airport infrastructure is an important component of the overall transportation network as it contributes directly to a country’s international competitiveness and inflow of foreign funds.

The committee is of the view that all the terminals of the airport need to be made comfortable and comfortable, but they do not need to be made very grand and need not be equipped with gold plating. Gold plating refers to the addition of expensive features, which increase the cost of a project.