Lower Airport Charges, Taxes Will Boost Expansion in Indian Mkt: IndiGo CEO

New Delhi: Airport charges are too high and having lower charges as well as taxes will provide the opportunity to expand in India, IndiGo CEO Willie Walsh said on Monday and asserted that all stakeholders need to focus on their cost base.

IndiGo is the country’s largest airline with a domestic market of over 65 per cent and operates around 2,200 flights daily.

At a briefing in the national capital, Walsh said the airline always looks for better value from the airports.

“We will continue to look for them to be much more competitive when it comes to pricing given that they are effective monopolies,” he said.

During his tenure as the Director General of global airlines’ grouping IATA, Walsh had strong views about airport charges and taxes in India.

In response to a question from PTI on his current view, he said, “I have not changed my view”.

“Airport charges are too high and so this market would do much better if we had lower taxes. So lower taxes, lower airport charges, that is the way forward.

“… I think to be honest with you, the opportunity to expand in India, we require everybody to be focused on their cost base,” he said.

India has more than 160 airports.

(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by HDFC Sky editorial team and is auto-generated from PTI feed.)