25 AAI airports earmarked for leasing over 2022-2025: Ministry of Civil Aviation

The government on Monday said that the 25 Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022-2025.

New Delhi:As many as 149 airports are operating in the country with about six airports being privatised since 2018 for better operations, management, and development of these airports under Public Private Partnership (PPP) while 25 Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports have been earmarked for leasing over 2022-2025, the government said on Monday.

While replying to a question from Congress MP Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik enquiring about the total number of airports in the country and the number of airports that have been privatised since 2018, General (DR) VK Singh (Retd), Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways and Civil Aviation via a written reply in the Rajya Sabha informed that "Presently, there are 149 airports in the country. Since 2018, AAI has leased out six of its airports at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Mangaluru in Karnataka, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Guwahati in Assam and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala for better operations, management and development of these airports under Public Private Partnership (PPP)."

The six privatised airports include Lucknow International Airport Limited (LIAL), Ahmedabad International Airport Limited (AIAL), Mangaluru International Airport Limited (MaIAL), Jaipur International Airport Limited (JIAL), Guwahati International Airport Limited (GIAL) and TRV-Kerala International Airport Limited (TIAL).

On whether the government has any plan to privatise any more airports, the MoS replied that "As per National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), 25 AAI airports namely, Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun and Rajahmundry have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022 to 2025."

"These airports are being leased for their better management utilising private sector efficiency and investment. States and passengers are the ultimate beneficiaries of enhanced airport infrastructure and facilities created by a private partner, who operates, manages and develops the leased airport under PPP", he added.