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The 100% rise in embarkation fee to Rs1,000 and Rs300 for international and domestic passengers, respectively was notified by the CAA a day back. People booking business and first class seats for foreign destinations will pay Rs2,000.
All international passengers will pay Rs540 infrastructure development charge and Rs180 security charge.
Meanwhile the CAA has notified a charge of $10 per ton to every airline as cargo handling facility charge. The carriers will have to pay fire and rescue charge at rate of 10% of landing fee as well, a CAA notification said.
Senior CAA officials including the Director General Khalid Chaudhry were unavailable for comments. No explanation has been given for the new charges.
Former CAA DG Junaid Amin said his management had also considered a similar proposal two years back but decided against it. “Almost 80% of our international traffic comprises labourers heading for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat. The amount looks small but it’s unfair.”
Security concerns and reluctance of transit passengers to stop by at Karachi and Lahore has added to woes of Pakistan’s aviation industry, he said. “This would be the worst possible time to levy extra charges either on the airlines or the passengers.”
In recent years, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and British Airways have rolled back flights to Pakistan citing lack of sufficient traffic.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2012.
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