Airport passengers leaving the UAE will be charged a service fee of AED5, UAE daily Gulf News reported Monday. The additional fee will come into force on July 29, 2011, and will be built into the ticket price, but will not be applicable to transit passengers, the report added. “This is a service fee, which is related to safety and security of passengers and travelling public out of UAE airports,” the paper quoted General Civil Aviation Authority's (GCAA) Director General Saif Mohammad Al-Suwaidi as saying. “The decision will be implemented by the UAE Government and has been issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai,” the paper cited a GCAA spokesperson as saying. Passenger volumes at Dubai International Airport are set to exceed 75 million by 2015, according to a statement from Dubai Airports. Around 3.97 million passengers passed through the world's fourth busiest airport for international passenger traffic in May, compared with 3.65 million passengers during the same month in 2010. Transit passengers and children under the age of 2 years will be exempted from the fee. Airlines in the Gulf state were informed of the charge this month and many have begun incorporating the cost into their ticket sales, said no-frills carrier flydubai. “flydubai was notified on July 5 that a passenger security and safety fee of AED5 per passenger traveling from any UAE airport would be introduced,” the airline said in a statement. “The charge will be levied at the time of booking and has already been incorporated into the price of flydubai's flights departing from July 29.” It is understood the service fee will go toward offsetting the cost of enhanced security in the UAE's airports. Aviation has been earmarked as a key growth area for the Gulf over the next decade. The Middle East is forecast to see 400 million air travellers by 2020, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Airlines in the region are among the biggest buyers of planes worldwide, with up to four aircrafts being received by local airlines each month. The GCC is forecast to spend $90 billion on airport development by 2022, almost a third of which will be funneled into security upgrades.
