If you assumed that Air India’s sale to the Govt of India was the ultimate reform in the civil aviation space, then pause and reflect.. Because that was just the start.
In a major development related to privatization of existing Govt assets, 13 more airports will be now sold to private firms, and 7 other, smaller airports will be merged with 6 existing airports.
Keep reading to find out more..
13 More Airports Will Be Sold To Private Firms
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has informed that 13 airports will be now sold to private firms, and the list has been shared with Govt under the National Monetisation Plan (NMP).
Private firms who will be acquiring the rights of these 13 airports will earn profits based on per passenger revenue model, which has proved to be a success for AAI.
AAI chairman Sanjeev Kumar said, “We have sent a list of 13 airports to the aviation ministry that are to be bid out on PPP (public-private partnership). The plan is to complete the bidding of these airports by the end of this fiscal,”, adding, “The model to be followed for bidding would be the per-passenger revenue model. This model has been used earlier and is successful and the Jewar airport (in Greater Noida) was also bid out on the same model.”
We couldn’t access the list of these 13 airports which will be now sold to private firms.
Under the National Monetisation Plan, total of 25 airports will be privatized, and these 13 airports are part of this list.
7 Airports Will Be Merged
Meanwhile, 7 smaller airports will be merged with 6 bigger airports.
While Varanasi airport will be merged with Kushinagar and Gaya; Amritsar with Kangra; Bhubaneswar with Tirupati; Raipur with Aurangabad; Indore with Jabalpur; and Trichy with Hubli.
AAI has already posted a record loss of Rs 1961 crore this financial year, and had to borrow more than Rs 1500 crore from SBI to run operations.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.