New Delhi:Eight airports have been leased out under Public Private Partnership mod across the country, the Union Government said on Thursday in a written reply to BJP MP Dipsinh Shankarsinh Rathod in Lok Sabha. "Airports Authority of India (AAI) has leased out eight of its airports under Public Private Partnership (PPP) for operation, management and development on a long-term lease basis," Gen V K Singh (Retd), MoS, Civil Aviation said in a written reply.
Replying further to the details of the revenue generated or expected to be generated to the Government from privatization, Singh in his reply said that: "So far, AAI has received Annual Fees of more than Rs 30,000 crore as Revenue Share from the Delhi and Mumbai airports." "The other six airports have paid approximately Rs 520 crore to AAI as Per Passenger Fee (PPF) till 31st May, 2022. AAI has also received an amount of Rs 2355.50 crore from six airports in the form of upfront fee towards the capital expenditure incurred by AAI at these airports," he added.
The eight airports that have been privatised include Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai; Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow; Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad; Mangalore International Airport, Karnataka; Jaipur International Airport; Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati; and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, Kerala.
Meanwhile, the Union Government in a separate response informed the lower house that the Centre has agreed to set up 20 airports, heliports and water aerodromes in the country under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by the year 2024-2025.
Also read: Share of nuclear power in total electricity generation in 2021-22 was 3.15%: Govt in LS
In a written reply, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the ministry launched "Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on 21-10-2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses, UDAN is a market driven scheme."
"Interested airlines based on their assessment of demand on particular routes, submit their proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN. An airport /airstrip /helipad /helipad /water aerodrome which is included in the awarded routes of RCS - UDAN and requires upgradation/development for commencement of RCS operations, is developed under 'Revival of unserved and underserved airports' scheme," said Scindia to a question posed by Naik Nimbalkar and Devi M Patel.
Giving out further details, Scindia said: "Under the UDAN scheme, the unserved and underserved airports/airstrips identified/awarded in the State of Maharashtra to operate RCS flights are Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Sholapur, Ozar (Nasik), Nanded, Amravati, Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Gondia." "RCS flights operation from the six airports namely Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Ozar (Nasik), Nanded, Gondia and Sindhudurg airports have already commenced under UDAN. Development/Upgradation of Airports at Ratnagiri and Solapur depends upon the fulfillment of land availability, removal of obstacles, regulatory compliances, etc. Amravati Airport is being developed by the State Government."
Also read:No assurance from Govt to farmers to provide legal guarantee on MSP: Tomar in LS
Similarly, the unserved & underserved airports/airstrips identified/awarded in the State of Rajasthan to operate RCS flights are Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Kishangarh, Uterlai and Kota. RCS flight operations from Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Kishangarh airports have already commenced under UDAN. Development/upgradation of airports at Uterlai and Kota depends on the fulfillment of land availability, removal of obstacles, regulatory compliance, etc.
"Phaltan Airstrip in Maharashtra and Manpur, Abu Road airstrip in Rajasthan are available in the tentative list of unserved airports in the UDAN scheme Document for bidding. However, none of the airlines has submitted any proposal to operate RCS flights from these airports, so far. In case, any airline submits a valid bid connecting these airstrips, the same shall be considered as per the provisions of the UDAN Scheme," said Scindia in reply to a question over the commencenent of flight services from Phaltan airport, Manpur airstrip, and Abu Road.
According to the data provided by Scindia in his written reply, out of those 20 airports/Heliports, full work has been completed in 13 regions including in- Itanagar and Ziro(Heliport) in Arunachal Pradesh, Aligarh, Azamgarh Chitrakoot, Shrivasti and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, Jeypore and Utkela in Odisha, Baddi(H), Sanjoli —Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and Bakaro in Jharkhand.
