Airport Privatisation News
The Indian government has taken an important step towards the privatisation of 11 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports. The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) has given in-principle approval to offer these airports under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
The 11 airports will be grouped into five PPP bundles. The government plans to combine a larger airport with a smaller airport in each bundle. This approach is expected to help attract private investment while supporting the development of airports across different regions of the country.
Five airports have been identified as the main or anchor airports in the proposed bundles. These include Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Tiruchirappalli.
The smaller airports that will be paired with these airports are Kangra, Gaya, Kushinagar, Hubballi, Aurangabad and Tirupati.
The bundling model means that bidders will compete for groups of airports instead of individual airports. The government believes this structure can make the smaller airports more attractive to private operators by linking them with larger and more established airports.
Under the proposed PPP model, private companies will be offered airport concessions for 50 years. This will give private operators a long period to invest in infrastructure, improve airport facilities and manage operations.
The bidding process will be based on a per-passenger fee on domestic traffic. This means companies interested in operating the airports will compete using the passenger fee structure set by the government.
The government will also place a limit on how many airport bundles a single bidder can win. This is expected to prevent one company from gaining control over too many of the airports included in the privatisation programme.
The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee is a government body that evaluates major PPP projects in India. It includes senior government secretaries and plays an important role in reviewing large public-private partnership proposals.
The in-principle approval for these 11 airports moves the proposal closer to the bidding stage. Further steps will be required before private companies can formally take over the operations of the airports.
The proposed airport privatisation is part of India’s wider effort to increase private participation in the aviation sector. Private operators can bring investment, new technology and professional management to airport infrastructure.
For passengers, successful implementation could lead to improvements in airport facilities, services and operational efficiency. Smaller airports included in the bundles could also benefit from investment and better management.
The proposal involving Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Tiruchirappalli and six other airports marks another major development in India’s airport PPP programme. With 50-year concessions and a bundled bidding structure, the government is now moving towards the next stage of the airport privatisation process.
Ajeet Yadav is an aviation enthusiast covering airline news, airports, aircraft, and industry developments through well-researched and reliable reporting.
