New Delhi: Passengers will have to pay Rs 10 extra for their air travel from September 1 as the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to revise the rates of aviation security fee (ASF) for domestic and international passengers.

According to officials, the ASF for domestic flyers will be increased by Rs 10 to Rs 160 while the international passengers will have to pay $5.2 instead of the current $4.85.

Airlines collect the ASF from passengers when they book their tickets and then give it to the government. The ASF is used to fund the security arrangement at airports across the country. The ASF was hiked last year to Rs 150 from Rs 130, and international passengers were charged $4.85 instead of $3.25.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to go completely digital now and bring all its functions and services on an e-platform. So far, the business processes and services provided by the DGCA to aviation stakeholders have been manually undertaken. Officials said the new e-governance platform would enable digital interactions between DGCA and various stakeholders for all the services and would bring significant enhancement in the delivery of various services.

“The project aims at digital transformation of DGCA, wherein all the services provided by DGCA shall be offered digitally through eGCAportal to its stakeholders that include Pilots, Aircraft Engineers, Operators, Flying Training Organizations, Approved Training Organizations, Maintenance and Approved Maintenance Organizations etc,” officials said. The project is being implemented in four phases and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

The DGCA has already gone digital with regard to its services pertaining to Pilot licensing, Medical Examinations and services relating to Flying Training Organizations and some other services.