Delhi and Mumbai airports are earning the least 'aeronautical' revenue per passenger compared to other airports of the world, according to a survey. As per the list of 50 countries prepared by Leigh Fisher Management Consultants, Delhi airport is at the bottom of the list with meagre 1.97 SDRs compared to Japan's Narita airport with 17.86 SDRs. Mumbai stands at the second last place with 2.09 SDRs.

The revenue has been calculated on the basis of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) -- which is an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund and its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies.

Operator of Delhi airport, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has asked the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to increase the airport tariffs by 874 per cent as it was registering losses due to whopping rise in traffic and operational cost.

DIAL has declared a loss of Rs 229 crore in Q3 of this fiscal year. They said they have made huge investments on upgrading a deficient infrastructure. DIAL said that they have been continuously posting losses due to the pending tariff revision.

"Since 2000, the tariff at IGI Airport was increased only once by 10 per cent in 2009 as compared to the consumer price index which went up by 200 per cent. As of today, airport charges at IGI is among the lowest compared to similar airports worldwide," a senior DIAL official said.

The aeronautical tariff rates are less than half compared to that in Bangkok, Hong Kong or Singapore. It is just 15 per cent of the tariff being charged at the airports in London, Toronto and Narita, he said.

Foreign airlines, during their last meeting with AERA, had opposed any steep hike in aeronautical charges and said they may be forced to wind up their India operations.

According to sources, major foreign airlines are paying just 1.5 per cent of their total earnings from Delhi as aeronautical charges to DIAL.

The Delhi airport was recently ranked second in airport service quality by Airport Council International in the 25 to 40 million passenger category while Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport stood third.