The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) has announced plans to raise development and security fees at airports nationwide, slated to take effect from 1 January 2024.

As a consequence of this decision, passengers will see an uptick in expenses when purchasing air tickets, according to insiders in the sector.

Md Aziz Taher Khan, member (finance) of CAAB, told the Daily Sun, “We have made a policy decision to adjust the development and security fees of our airports in light of the rising dollar exchange rate. Our proposal has been forwarded to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, and the ministry will finalise the matter.”

The decision to set passenger and freight fares in taka instead of dollar will also be effective from January next.

According to sources, the decisions to increase the airport development and passenger security fees were made during the CAAB board meeting held last month with a view to coping with the future inflation at a rate of 13%.

This was done as per the directives of the civil aviation ministry to reduce losses of CAAB as the price of the US dollar rose against taka.

Aviation expert and editor of Bangladesh Monitor, Kazi Wahidul Alam, stated that reviewing airport fees periodically is a routine task for CAAB.  However, the move is likely to lead to an increase in air ticket prices, he added.

Currently, passengers from SAARC countries pay Tk545 as an airport development fee and Tk654 as a passenger security fee for international routes.

Furthermore, for passengers from countries outside the SAARC region, the proposed fees are Tk1,090 for airport development and Tk1,090 for passenger security. For domestic route passengers, the suggested fees are Tk100 for airport development and Tk70 for passenger security.

According to the CAAB proposal sent to the ministry, an increase in the airport development fee to Tk700 and the passenger security fee to Tk840 is suggested for passengers from SAARC countries on international routes.

For passengers from non-SAARC countries, the proposed fees are Tk1,400 for both airport development and passenger security. For domestic route passengers, the airport development fee has been proposed at Tk150 and passenger security fee at Tk100.

CAAB has placed this proposal fixing a time schedule till December 2025.

In April this year, the ministry decided to set the ticket fares of domestic and foreign airlines traveling to Bangladesh in taka instead of dollar. A notification was also issued accordingly.