LAHORE, Aug 2: Airline passengers will be required to pay an airport development tax and increased service charge, from Sept 1. A Civil Aviation Authority official said on Monday that the CAA had earlier decided to impose the new tax and the increase in service charge with effect from Aug 1 but deferred it at the request of the Airline Operating Committee.

The decision, he said, had already been notified. He said each passenger, domestic and international, would have to pay Rs150 as airport development charge from Sept 1.

The service charge has been more than doubled. For domestic passengers it will be Rs250, instead of Rs100. For international flights, service charge, which varies from class to class, has been raised by Rs500 per passenger - Rs900 for economy class, from Rs400; Rs1,100 for business class, from Rs600; and Rs1,300 for first class from Rs800.

CAA's Lahore director Nusratulla Khan said the new tax and the service charge increase were inevitable because the CAA had to meet the cost of the facilities it offered.