Ministry asked to explain aviation fund

The Ministry of Finance was ordered in a lawsuit filed by a lawyer to disclose why a 50-yuan ($8.2) or 90-yuan civil aviation development fund has to be paid by every passenger.

The ruling by the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing came after an earlier application from a lawyer, surnamed Wang, to disclose the reason for the charge was rejected by the ministry, reported the Beijing News on Saturday.

In a letter to the ministry in 2012, Wang required to see documents to justify the charge, which was rebuffed, as the documents are confidential and thus not included in disclosure.

The applicant should be informed and explanations should be made for not disclosing certain information, states the court. However, there is no proof showing that the ministry explained.

The charge, previously named the airport construction fee before April 2012, was first introduced in 1992. It sets the charging standard at 50 yuan for domestic flights and 90 yuan for international.

In 2008, Dong Zhengwei, a Beijing lawyer, who also filed for similar information disclosure, received the response that it is necessary to charge the fee since maintenance of airports and other public facilities needs money.

"Travelers are not supposed to be responsible for air carriers' economic losses since most of them are publicly traded," Dong told the Global Times.