The airport located in the capital of India, Delhi, is one of the busiest airports. More than 1200 flights take off from this airport every day, in which thousands of passengers travel. But the accident that happened at Delhi airport this morning has raised questions on the security of Delhi airport. Do you know how much Delhi airport earns in a year? Despite earning crores, why are the facilities here rusty?
Delhi Airport
Let us tell you that a major accident has happened at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday (28 June) morning amid heavy rain in Delhi. Actually, due to rain, a part of the roof of Terminal-1 of the airport fell on the vehicles parked there, due to which one person died, while four people were injured. After this accident, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu has announced compensation for the dead and injured.
Which company built the airport?
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) operates the Delhi Airport. DIAL is a consortium led by GMR Group. The terminal where this accident happened, i.e. Delhi Airport Terminal 1, was developed by GMR. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) is owned by GMR Airports Limited with 64% stake, Airport Authority of India with 26% stake and Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide with 10% stake. Apart from Delhi, GMR Group operates three more airports in the country. These include Hyderabad, Goa and Bidar. Apart from this, this company also operates one airport each in Philippines and Indonesia. GMR Group’s business is spread across sectors like airport, energy, transportation, urban infrastructure and aero service.
Delhi airport earns crores
Let us tell you that after being the busiest airport, Delhi Airport is also on the list of highest earning airports. GMR Airports Limited had told in the year 2023 that their company has earned Rs 4254 crore from Delhi Airport in 2023. Out of this, Rs 1854 crore was given to the Airport Authority of India as fee. But the accident at Terminal 1 has made it clear that these companies earning crores and billions are not paying attention to the safety of the passengers.
Charge passengers for security and amenities
Let us tell you that many airports in the country, including Delhi Airport, charge airport development fee and user development fee from the passengers in addition to the travel charges. Not only this, the companies operating the airport also keep increasing these charges from time to time.
For example, the base fare of an airline ticket for a flight from Delhi to Mumbai on June 29 is Rs 4058. However, a fee and surcharge of Rs 696 has been imposed on it, which includes user development fee – Rs 61 and passenger service fee – Rs 91. Not only this, the central government is also collecting Rs 208 as GST.
The passenger is paying all kinds of charges along with his ticket. But despite that, incidents like the one at Delhi airport have raised a big question on the security of the airport. However, till now the GMR company which built the airport has not given any statement regarding this.
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