Airport parking: Visitors decry entry fee, lack of facilities

CAA says move has led to a 20 per cent decrease in visitor traffic, which meets its objective.

Residents of the twin cities on Sunday demanded the authorities concerned to cease collection of entry fees for parking at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) Baqir Sajjad said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) imposed a fee of Rs40 on every visitor who parked for three hours or less.

He said that the CAA was charging the fee without providing visitors any additional facilities, adding that other airport administrations across the country did not indulge in such a practice.

Another visitor, Tanveer, said that the authority was unlawfully collecting the parking fees, while expressing disappointment that the airport management had not provided vehicle security.

Muhammad Aslam said cars belonging to government employees were allowed to use the parking facilities free-of-charge whereas regular citizens were forced to pay a fee.



A CAA official said that the authority had imposed entry fees to curb the growing number of visitors accompanying those who were travelling, citing a lack of space and security concerns as the major reasons.

The official said the authority had published newspaper advertisements requesting passengers not to bring too many visitors with them, adding that “all of our efforts were in vain”.

He said the entry fee had led to a 20 per cent decline in the number of people visiting the airport.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.