One of the country's leading airports is the international airport at Shamshabad in Hyderabad. Passengers flying from this airport to various domestic destinations are charged a User Development Fee (UDF) of ₹750 per ticket. International passengers travelling abroad are charged ₹1,500 per ticket. The existing Visakhapatnam International Airport in Andhra Pradesh is expected to shift its flight operations to the upcoming Bhogapuram International Airport as early as next month. The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to inaugurate the greenfield airport through Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, a key point is that domestic air travel from Bhogapuram International Airport is set to be costlier than from Hyderabad. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has fixed a UDF of ₹835 per departing passenger at Bhogapuram Airport. Arriving domestic passengers will have to pay ₹355.
For international passengers, the UDF has been fixed at ₹1,255 per departing passenger, while passengers arriving from overseas will have to pay ₹545. All these charges will be included as part of the airfare. Notably, for domestic travellers, the UDF at Bhogapuram Airport is higher than that at Hyderabad Airport, even though both airports are operated by GMR Airports. Officials stated that the order issued by AERA is only a temporary one and will come into effect once commercial operations begin at the airport. Subsequently, AERA will determine the aeronautical tariffs for the first control period. At a time when there are already criticisms that passengers may face several difficulties in reaching Bhogapuram Airport from Visakhapatnam, the higher UDF charges compared to Hyderabad Airport have drawn attention.
During Chandrababu Naidu's first tenure as Chief Minister after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the Bhogapuram Airport project tender was reportedly awarded to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), a Central government enterprise. However, allegations were made that the tenders were cancelled and that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu made efforts to ensure that the project was awarded to GMR Airports. It was also reported at the time that officials in the Finance Department had raised serious objections to the model proposed by GMR Airports. Furthermore, while in the opposition, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had termed the project a major scam. After coming to power, the YSRCP government reduced the land allocation for the project by 500 acres but still approved the GMR Airports project. After returning to power for a second term, the Chandrababu Naidu government restored the 500 acres that had been removed during the YSRCP regime and handed them back to GMR Airports. The Cabinet formally approved and implemented this decision.