India’s busiest air travel hub, Delhi International Airport took the pandemic as an opportunity to implement world-class innovations for an enhanced passenger experience in the days to come. Though hit by a drastic fall in the volume of passenger traffic due to the continued suspension of normal international flights, Delhi IGI Airport has not only survived the crisis but also turned over a new leaf. Since the launch of Vande Bharat Mission, Delhi Airport has efficiently handled operations for air bubble flights, both inbound and outbound.

Equipped with e-gates, Indira Gandhi International Airport is all set to automate immigration clearance both for outbound and inbound travelers. In December 2020, the airport launched a pilot program for certain passengers to experience fast immigration clearance in an absolutely contactless manner given social distancing is a need of the hour. Like Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi Airport, Delhi IGI Airport has made most of the process contactless  that an international traveler goes through before departure or after arrival.

Picture Credit: Outlook India | IGI Airport

How Delhi Airport’s e-gates work for faster immigration clearance

Delhi International Airport’s e-gates will facilitate speedy identity and document verification for travelers without human intervention. This technological innovation is expected to eliminate the hassles of boarding long-haul international flights especially when the immigration area is staffed with limited manpower. This is part of Delhi IGI Airport’s Trusted Travellers Program (TTP) for international passengers.

Designed on the lines of Global Entry Program in the USA, Delhi Airport’s TTP ensures hassle-free airport experience for low-risk travelers who are eligible for pre-approved immigration clearance. With the Trusted Travellers Program integrated to four e-gates in the departure terminal area, Delhi Airport requires passengers to scan their passports and boarding passes.

On successful scanning, a camera attached to the scanner at the e-gates will click a picture of the passenger’s face, and the picture will be matched with a database of blacklisted travelers to check within seconds if the passenger is prohibited from traveling abroad. Passengers will also submit a biometric scan of their fingerprints to the automated immigration clearance system. On successful clearance, the e-gates will open for them to proceed towards boarding.

Similar e-gates will be installed for fast, automated, contactless immigration clearance for international arrivals at Indira Gandhi International Airport. On average, the automated process will take half of the time that a passenger spends at the counters manned by immigration officials at the country’s biggest and busiest airport. The current process takes about 1.5 minutes per passenger, excluding the time spent in the queue on any given day. Initially, the airport staff will guide passengers through the new process.

Also Check: Delhi Airport’s Upcoming Inter-terminal Air Train

Delhi International Airport’s e-gates will be fully operational in a phased manner. In the first phase, only government officials and foreign dignitaries will be able to pass through the e-gates. The second phase will make the new facility available for Indian passengers. In the third phase, all foreign travelers will have a fast immigration clearance experience. On successful completion of the 3-month trial period, the first phase of the initiative will be operational in March 2021.

Delhi IGI Airport’s New Passenger Tracking System

Following a successful trial, Delhi International Airport’s Terminal 3 has got a unique passenger tracking system for efficient management of passenger flow in compliance with social distancing measures. Delhi Airport’s Xovis passenger tracking system is a queue management system that works through installation of screens for display of live waiting time at such critical areas as check-in, securing screening, and boarding.

The mechanism of Delhi Airport’s passenger tracking system also includes ceiling-mounted sensors that scan passenger throughput at any given point of time and transmit the data to the airport operator through an intuitive dashboard. The dashboard helps the airport operator identify crowded zones and bottlenecks in real time, thereby ensuring better management of passenger flow in adherence to the social distancing protocol.

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The global aviation industry is breathlessly waiting to exit the stagnation of passenger flight operations. While the government of India is mulling over further extension of the lockdown with a right mix of restrictions and relaxations for flattening the COVID19 curve and easing the economic inertia simultaneously, Indian airports are gearing up to adapt to the new normal – social distancing. Expecting the current lockdown to be lifted post May 3, major airports of India have planned to restart commercial operations with new passenger safety rules and ‘new normal’ guidelines in place.

Sanitization, social distancing, masks and alertness will be part of the ‘new normal’ life post lockdown in India. Air travel won’t be an exception to it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at the same in his meeting, held today (April 27), with the state chief ministers. The post-lockdown safety measures to be followed at New Delhi IGI, Hyderabad RGI, Mumbai CSMI and other airports include the mandatory use of face masks. Travelers without face covers will be denied entry into the terminal building.

“While the airport is geared up with a high level of hygiene and new operational procedures, passengers’ role in keeping the airport safe would also be equally important,” said the chief executive of GMR Group that manages Hyderabad International Airport and Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport.

Indian airports’ post-lockdown operating guidelines include stringent thermal screening, temporary quarantine centers, and vivid social distancing markings to ensure a safe and sanitized environment for travelers. All airport counters including check-in kiosks, and commercial outlets in the retail space are being shielded with transparent screens to ensure physical distance between passengers and the front desk staff, thereby minimizing chances for air transmission of respiratory droplets of the Novel Coronavirus.

Mumbai International Airport, one of the busiest air travel hubs in India, requires passengers to maintain 1.5 meters of physical distance from each other by following distinctive markings for social distancing at the terminals. A special layout for social distancing will be marked all over the airport premises, including entry points, self-check-in kiosks, check-in counters, security checkpoints, boarding area, food courts, lounges and baggage carousels. The seating arrangements for passengers in the terminal buildings are being reorganized in a way so as to make social distancing effective. Other major airports including New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai are following the same more or less.

Furthermore, Mumbai CSMI Airport has built quarantine setups for passengers showing COVID19 symptoms during thermal screening at entry points outside the terminals.

Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi Airport has deployed a team of 100 professionals for a colossal task of sanitizing and fumigating the 7 levels of the terminal building sprawling over 1.27 lakh square meters, on a daily basis. While operating charter flights for repatriation of foreigners stranded in Telangana, the airport authorities conducted frequent sanitization of high contact-prone surfaces such as kiosks, trolleys, elevators, railings, drinking water dispensers, washrooms, trays, baggage belts, etc. The same will be continued once Hyderabad Airport reopens for daily passenger flights.

Travelers can directly access the boarding pass and bag tag dispensers at the check-in counters of Hyderabad RGI Airport. It will help make sure no physical exchange of these documents between travelers and the airport staff.

When Indira Gandhi International Airport will resume operations, it will put in place not only safety guidelines but strict restrictions. The airport has called for the airline crew to stop serving in-flight meals and restrict the use of lavatories on board for some time post lockdown. Passengers will be served only drinking water and, that too in such a manner so as to reduce physical contact.

Passengers with flu symptoms will not be allowed to check in at New Delhi IGI Airport. The ground staff of airlines is instructed to make sure that passengers remain seated unless they are called up to check in one by one in post-lockdown days. No queues will be formed for security checks. Security checks will be conducted in a touch-free manner at New Delhi and other airports. Sensor-based automatic hand sanitizer dispensers are being installed across the airport.

Mumbai and New Delhi are the destinations for many direct flights to India from USA and other countries. Hence, these two airports are highly expected to resume operations once India lifts lockdown and travel restrictions. Many Indian nationals stranded abroad and Indian professionals holding foreign work visas, who are stuck amid the lockdown in India, are eyeing on India’s air travel resumption plan post lockdown in May 2020, according to leading travel booking organizations including Indian Eagle.

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We often get to hear about incidents of ‘intimate’ body frisking by security guards at US airports. It has even offended many Indian biggies traveling to and out of the United States. Recently, media reported an incident of humiliation and harassment that a wheelchair-bound Indian American traveler was subjected to at Indira Gandhi International Airport in India.

The wheelchair-bound traveler, who flew from the USA to New Delhi, is none other than Virali Modi who helmed the campaign to make major Indian Railway stations disabled-friendly. Virali Modi, a US citizen, is a renowned disability rights activist and motivational speaker. A runner-up in the 2014 Miss Wheelchair India contest, she featured on BBC’s list of top 100 women of 2017.

While going through the obligatory security check at Delhi IGI airport for a flight to Mumbai, she did fall prey to a CISF official’s utterly insensitive behavior towards her.

On landing at Delhi IGI Airport from her flight from USA to India, Virali Modi surrendered her personal wheelchair at the check-in counter. She got a wheelchair from the airport and hired a porter to escort her to her seat on the SpiceJet aircraft. A female CISF officer at the security check asked her to stand up from the wheelchair and walk.

Virali and the porter told the CISF officer that Virali has been paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury in 2006 and that she has been on a wheelchair since then. She showed her passport to prove that she has traveled internationally, but she has faced such disrespect nowhere. Reportedly, the CISF personnel turned a deaf ear to all her pleas and went on to yell at her.

When Virali Modi overheard the lady CISF officer speak to one of her colleagues, “Drama kar rahi hai (she is pretending to be wheelchair-bound), she was left with tears in her eyes. She gritted her teeth to confront the CISF on the latter’s insensitive behavior to her.

When the argument heated up, a senior CISF officer intervened, conducted the security check and let her move on to the boarding area.

Expressing her disappointment at being ill-treated and harassed, Virali Modi wrote an email to the CISF after reaching Mumbai. In the email, she complained, “Is this how the CISF are trained to handle people with disabilities? If so, then it’s a shame on our government. This sort of behavior is absurd and I request you to please look into this matter and take the necessary action so this doesn’t happen to anyone with disability.”

When she demanded a public apology from the CISF for meting out humiliating behavior to her, the same female CISF officer called her and rendered an apology to her over the phone.

Later on Virali Modi was told that the lady CISF officer stood her ground because there had been an incident of fraudulence and counterfeit a few days before, in which a 32-year-old man appeared as an 81-year-old and pretended to be too senile to leave wheelchair while going through the security check for a flight to New York from New Delhi.

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Major airports of India are catching on to the latest technology for infrastructural enhancement and better service to travelers. It is evident from the top rankings of major international airports of India in the first Airport Service Quality survey by the Airports Council International (ACI). Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru topped the list with 4.67 points out of five. India’s Bangalore City airport deserved the top ranking for its latest and upcoming developments, including automated self-bad drop facility to biometric boarding.

With a host of new world-class features and amenities in the offing, Bengaluru International Airport is all set to make your travel paperless, hassle free, ultra comfortable and cheaper. We at Indian Eagle Travel took a short walk through the corridor of consistent development at Kempegowda Airport, Bengaluru.

Bangalore Airport: Fully-automated Baggage Drop within 60 Seconds

Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru became the first Indian airport to have introduced the fully automated self-bag drop facility for the fastest check-in. Recently, 16 automated baggage drop machines have been integrated to the state-of-the-art infrastructure of the airport. Those traveling from Bengaluru International Airport are no longer required to stand in long serpentine queues for baggage check-in. Remarkably, the automated baggage drop facility at Bangalore Airport has made the whole baggage check-in process a task of 45 to 60 seconds.

Currently, the facility is available only for those traveling on Air Asia and Spicejet. It will be extended to other international airlines operating flights to USA and other countries from Bengaluru. Travelers carrying excess luggage to check in won’t be able to avail the facility. Once you’re done printing your boarding pass from any of the 32 kiosks at the airport, do tag your bags and drop them off to the automated machines where the bags are automatically weighed, measured and scanned before they are transferred to the baggage handling systems.

Bengaluru Airport: Smart Security Lanes for Fastest Security Check

Bengaluru City airport is to be done with separate queues for security screening of male and female travelers soon. In a first of its kind in India, Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) has inked a deal with a UK-based security technology developer to zero in on an advanced security system which will be installed by December 2018. Not only men and women passengers will be screened together, but also the wait time for them will be lessened considerably.

Bangalore International Airport is all set to introduce Smart Security Lanes with Automated Tray Retrieval Systems (ATRS) at check points, both domestic and international. The existing manual lanes for security screening will gradually be phased out to make way for installation of the Smart Security Lanes in a phased manner. The project will be completed in March 2019, thereby enhancing the passenger screening capacity by 50%.

The smart security lanes with automated tray retrieval system will automatically push cabin bags and trays with passengers’ belongings into the screening machine and move empty trays to the next passengers. Thus, travelers will be relieved of the hassles of looking for empty trays and pushing their bags into the X-Ray machines at Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru. Evidently, the whole screening process will be a lot more efficient.

Bengaluru Airport: Facial Recognition for Biometric Boarding

Kempegowda International Airport (BLR) is all set to make the whole boarding process paperless early in 2019 by introducing biometric self-boarding technology. Catching up with the proliferation of facial recognition of travelers at US airports, Bangalore City airport seeks to reduce paperwork for futuristic air travel experience. Once biometric technology for facial recognition is in place, Bengaluru International Airport will be the first Indian hub of paperless air travel.

Bangalore Airport: Reduced User Development Fees for Travelers

To benefit both domestic and international travelers, Bangalore International Airport has already slashed the user development fee (UDF) to a considerable low. Effective from September 16, 2018, Bengaluru City airport’s user development fee for international flyers has been cut to INR 400 from the previous INR 1266. It has made international air tickets from Bengaluru cheaper. The UDF component of domestic airfares has been reduced to INR 100 from the earlier INR 306.

However, Bengaluru Airport’s user development fees will be increased in 2019 and 2020. The current INR 100 per domestic passenger will be raised to INR 139, which will continue to be levied from April 2019 until March 31, 2020. It will be increased further up to INR 179, starting April 2020 and continuing until March 31, 2021. Similarly, the existing INR 400 per international traveler will be increased to INR 558, starting April 1, 2019. It will apply until March 31, 2020. International airfares will include INR 716 per passenger from April 2020 until March 31, 2021.

Flights from Bangalore may not necessarily get cheaper if operating airlines chose not to pass on the benefit to their passengers.

What was your recent experience of traveling to or from Bengaluru Airport? Why not share with us and other readers in the comment section below!!!

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Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is known not only for its enhanced global connectivity but also its world-class traveler-friendly infrastructure. Early this year (2018), Hyderabad RGI Airport installed a wheelchair lift ensuring convenience for senior citizens and travelers with reduced mobility (PRM) under the signature program, ‘Passenger is Prime.’

Hyderabad Airport became the first Indian airport to have installed seven Cardiac Emergency Resuscitation Stations to facilitate on-time assistance to passengers in the event of sudden cardiac arrest, is the latest news about the GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. The new facility too, is part of the airport’s #PassengerisPrime program.

The Cardiac Emergency Resuscitation Stations (ERS) have been set up in different parts of the airport’s Passenger Terminal Building, including the domestic Security Hold area, the airport village, check-in areas, international arrivals, domestic arrivals, and international SHA. The airport’s ground staffs are undergoing a regular training to operate the Cardiac Emergency Resuscitation Stations without any mistake or delay.

Till date, more than 100 volunteers from Hyderabad RGI Airport’s stakeholders have been imparted trainings in operating Automated External Defibrillator (AED) devices which are used to diagnose life-threatening cardiac conditions caused by irregular heartbeats. They have also been trained in providing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), chest compressions with artificial intelligence in case of a medical emergency at the airport.  

The Cardiac Emergency Resuscitation Stations (ERS) at Hyderabad International Airport are equipped with complete first-aid kits, oxygen cylinders, Automated External Defibrillator devices, stretchers and emergency bags containing essential equipment like intubation. The trained airport community members can access the nearest ERS cabinet to provide immediate assistance in case of a cardiac emergency.

Among the new facilities at Rajiv Gandhi Airport Hyderabad is a crash cart loaded with essential life-saving tools to address passengers’ sudden medical needs. The crash card has been installed near a baggage conveyor belt in the domestic arrivals.

“Hyderabad International Airport was the first Indian airport to launch the ‘Express Security Check’ facility for domestic passengers without check-in baggage. RGIA received the Carbon Neutrality Certificate from the Airports Council International for having achieved 100% carbon neutrality. In December 2017, Professor Lalji Singh, the father of DNA fingerprinting in India, died of a sudden heart attack while waiting to board his flight at Varanasi Airport. He could have been saved if he were given oxygen supply immediately. The incident brought to the fore the need of what Hyderabad Airport has installed to save passengers during a cardiac emergency,” said the chief communication officer of Indian Eagle, a leading international travel booking firm.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (HYD) has a dedicated medical facility consisting of a 17-bed emergency treatment unit which Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited. The medical facility remains open 24 hours a day, and it is attended by qualified doctors and well-trained paramedics round the clock. Three ambulances equipped with advanced life-saving equipment are deployed in the airport complex.

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The walled city of Ahmedabad is on cloud nine. After Ahmedabad was recognized as India’s first UNESCO World Heritage city in 2017, Ahmedabad International Airport is declared the Most Improved Airport in the Asia Pacific region.

The Airport Council International’s Airport Service Quality Awards 2017 named Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport as the Most Improved Airport for scoring high on the index of service to passengers at the airport. The ‘Most Improved Airport’ award is Ahmedabad’s first international achievement in aviation, giving testimony to the airport’s continuous growth and improvement.

The eighth busiest Indian airport in terms of annual air traffic volume, Ahmedabad Airport (AMD) has been connected with many parts of the world, including the United States, the Middle East and the United Kingdom by major international airlines over the past few years. Newark to Ahmedabad is one of the busiest routes for US to India flights at Indian Eagle, a leading air ticketing agency.

India’s Most Improved Airport, Sardar Vallabhbhai Int. Airport handles over 200 flight movements daily, whereas the world’s number 1 airport for the fourth time, Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi Airport records over 400 flight operations every day. A metro rail is currently under construction to link the airport with Ahmedabad City and Gandhinagar for smooth commute.

Since Sardar Vallabhbhai Airport (AMD) is just a short flight away from Delhi and Mumbai, those traveling to Ahmedabad prefer Air India’s nonstop flights to Mumbai and Delhi from the USA as per the stats of Indian Eagle’s booking of cheap flights to Ahmedabad in economy and business. Besides, Air India connects Ahmedabad with New York JFK and Newark Liberty (EWR) airports via London Heathrow.

Ahmedabad is a prime destination for the Gujarati diaspora and global business communities. Being a thriving business and tourism hub in West India, Ahmedabad has been witnessing a steadily increasing number of inbound and outbound air travelers. Hence, Sardar Vallabhbhai International Airport is likely to be replaced by Dholera International Airport with passenger-handling capacity for over 10 million a year.

Currently Ahmedabad Airport (AMD) has four terminals including a domestic one (T1) and an international one (T2). The infrastructure of T2 is modeled on that of Singapore Changi Airport’s international terminal. It has four aerobridges and a half-kilometer-long moving walkway. It has got a premium lounge for those taking business flights to Ahmedabad, India.

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Earlier in 2017, Indian women’s multi-fold saris with embroidery or mirror or other material work fooled Delhi IGI Airport’s body scanners into raising alarms for nothing. Many female travelers refused to comply with the security norms since they were required to remove their mangalsutra for the pre-boarding scan. Ultimately, the American body scanners were withdrawn from Indira Gandhi International Airport.

However, Delhi IGI Airport sourced a new body scanner which is smart enough to see through multi-layered Indian attires, particularly sari with metallic work. Developed by a Russian company and a Gujarat-based manufacturer in a collaborative venture, the body scanner has been on a week-long trial at Delhi Airport and proven sensitive to Indian women’s Desi outfits.

Unlike the previous scanners, the new body scanner at Delhi IGI Airport does not beep immediately and unnecessarily when a sari-clad woman wearing jewelry goes through it. Rather, it produces an X-ray image for the screening staff to check if the woman under scan is hiding any prohibited or suspicious item.

Also Check: Airlines Start Interviewing US-bound passengers

Usual body scanners require male travelers to remove their wallets, watches, and belts, and female fliers to remove their handbags and jewelry. In the new scanner at Delhi IGI Airport, travelers do not need to take off shoes, belts, watches, wallets, jewelry, phones, etc. Reportedly, the new scanner has been manufactured in harmony with Indian sentiments and standards.

What’s the most likeable about the new body scanner at Delhi Airport is that it is configured in such a way so as to produce mannequin-like images without revealing body parts, according to the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security.

To be installed at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi Airport (DEL), the full body scanner can detect explosives, metallic things and other suspicious items even through prosthetics and plaster casts. So, not only Indian women wearing desi attires but also differently abled passengers on wheel chairs can comfortably go through the scan.

However, passengers will have to undergo physical frisking even after a full-body scan in a telephone booth-like structure. The new scanner will finally be put to use by this month end.

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Bengaluru is all set to have India’s first smart international airport by December 2018, though Hyderabad RGI Airport is already done with a pilot trial of biometric scanners. Bengaluru Kempegowda Airport (BLR) has come a long way in the process to implement Aadhaar-enabled entry of travelers in sync with India’s vision of smart airports.

Everything from entry to boarding at Bengaluru Kempegowda Airport will be streamlined to transform it into a seamless experience for travelers under the initiative. Once the Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric e-boarding system is in place, the airport will be able to handle tickets and ID proofs from the initial checkpoint to the boarding gate within 10 minutes per traveler. 15 minutes will be reduced from the current 25 minutes of screening.

Kempegowda International Airport’s Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric e-boarding project is expected to commence on March 30 in 2018. December 2018 is the anticipated deadline for the completion of the project. All the other Indian airports will be brought within the purview of the project in 3 months from its completion at Bengaluru Int. Airport.

Known as the ‘digi yatra’ program, the new Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric e-boarding system is likely to benefit travelers boarding international flights from Bengaluru, most probably, by October 2018.

With increasing numbers of cheap flights to Bengaluru from the USA and other countries, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) registered air traffic growth by 22.5% in 2016. Total 22.18 million passengers traveled to, from and through Bengaluru Airport in 2016. 45 airlines connect Bengaluru City with 66 destinations in India and abroad. The airport receives average 60,000 footfalls a day.

Part of Bengaluru Airport’s growth strategy, the Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric e-boarding system will digitize and quicken the entry, screening and boarding of passengers given the increasing volume of air traffic. Interestingly, Bangalore Kempegowda Airport is looking to be the cargo hub of South India, whereas Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi Airport is likely to be the hub airport for South and Central India in the coming five to 10 years.

The ‘digi yatra’ program will also boost airport security and alleviate delay in flight departure schedules apart from facilitating real-time authentication of passengers’ identity. With the Aadhaar-enabled entry and biometric e-boarding system at Kempegowda International Airport, passengers will no longer need to display their IDs and boarding passes at several checkpoints. Checking-in at the airport and boarding flights will be a stress-free and hassle-free experience.

As a smart airport, Bengaluru Kempegowda Airport will be digitally empowered to reduce the waiting time, enhance operational efficiency and increase the shelf life of resources. On top of all this, security of the airport will be strengthened, which is a pressing need of the hour. Madurai International Airport (IXM) is gearing up to install the biometric access control system for enhanced security. – Indian Eagle 

Recently, Bengaluru outran San Francisco, New York, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and other 38 global cities in the race to become the world’s best digital environment city. Hopefully, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport will give a tough run to the world’s best airports in the future.

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Fares are likely to go down a little bit for flights departing from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport as the user development fee (UDF) for outbound travelers has been reduced drastically. In a surprising move to the pleasure of travelers, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DFCA) has lowered the user development fee for domestic and international flyers traveling out of IGI Airport, New Delhi.

Announced on July 18, 2017, the user development fee for domestic travelers has been reduced to INR 10 from INR 275 – 550. International passengers who were charged INR 635 to 1270 as UDF on their flight tickets from Delhi International Airport will now pay only INR 45, irrespective of their destinations. UDF is included in costs of air tickets at the time of purchase.

“Excess UDF collected” by travel agencies on behalf of airlines or airlines directly will be refunded to those who took their flights, domestic or international, from New Delhi post July 7, 2017. Domestic travelers can claim a refund of the excess UDF collected from them by producing their ticket copies, within a period of 45 days from July 18. 60 days are allotted for international passengers to request for the refund.

Those who purchased flight tickets on or after July 7, 2017 are entitled to a refund of the excess UDF collected by airlines directly or indirectly. Airlines operating flights from IGI Airport are directed to refund the excess UDF to the travelers, no matter if there is neither any claim nor any request for the refund from them. Airlines may remit the unclaimed amount to the Delhi International Airport authority after the due dates.

Please Note: Those who are eligible for refund of the excess user development fee based on the dates of their bookings and actual travel from Delhi IGI Airport are required to contact the operating airlines.

What is User Development Fee (UDF)?

User Development Fee is one of the charges included in airfares paid by travelers. It varies from airport to airport based on multiple factors. It is a revenue-generating instrument for airport operators in India. It gets airport operators a fair pie of return on investment in case of revenue shortfall. The varying rates of UDF are determined by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) for major Indian airports. Delhi IGI Airport levies the highest UDF on airfares for domestic travelers, while international flyers pay the highest UDF for Hyderabad RGI Airport. Delhi IGI Airport is the only Indian airport that charges user development fee for both departing and arriving travelers.

Indian Eagle Travel

IndianEagle.com is a leading international travel portal booking cheap flights between India and USA on major airlines operating connecting, direct and nonstop flights on several US-India routes. The lowest airfare along with the best service is guaranteed at Indian Eagle.

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India is all set to become a more tourist-friendly destination on the Asian map of world travel and tourism, by initiating the extension of Visa-on-arrival facility for 40 more countries. The latest scheme from the Union Ministry of Tourism is supposed to simply the online visa application process, ease the availability of visa-on-arrival facility for senior citizens from foreign countries and facilitate the same for those who visit India to attend conferences.

This move by the government to streamline the visa application and visa-on-arrival availability for tourists, students, scholars and senior citizens is being expected to boost Indian tourism and earn more foreign exchange which will the country ride over the problem of increasing current account deficit, according to the Planning Commission Minister Rajeev Shukla.

The need of a technological advancement in the existing infrastructure of visa application is deadly felt by the Ministry of Tourism. The latest visa-on-arrival scheme will not only make trips to India easy but also improve India’s ties with foreign countries. The countries under the purview of the scheme include the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Besides these countries under the scheme, India is seeking to develop agreement with Japan, Finland, Singapore, Luxemburg, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, New Zealand, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines in various niches. At present, the VoA scheme is available at international airports of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram in India. The VoA facility has been proposed for the airports of Goa, Gaya, Amritsar and Chandigarh.

IndianEagle.com books cheapest flights and offers lowest airfare to all major international airports of India.

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