India's airports could soon face financial penalties for failing to meet passenger service standards, with the government in the final stages of rolling out a performance monitoring framework.
Under the proposal, airports that fail to meet prescribed service benchmarks may be penalised up to 5% of the passenger-related charges they collect.
The framework, expected to be notified by the civil aviation ministry this year, will assess airports on around 50 parameters covering objective, subjective and additional key performance indicators.
It will track a set of forward-looking indicators, including minimum connection times, passenger misconnects, and availability of facilities for passengers with reduced mobility.
Monthly surveys will be conducted by a third party, with penalties imposed every six months, and survey findings will be made public.
The government is also considering incentives for airports that exceed performance targets.
