Bundled for privatisation: 7 airports making losses

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has recognized seven airports alongside six others already shortlisted for the subsequent spherical of airport privatisation, sources instructed The Indian Express.
After leasing out Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports on public-private partnership mode, the AAI had chosen Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy airports for the second spherical.
The AAI now plans to bundle Jharsuguda airport with Bhubaneswar, Kushinagar and Gaya airports with Varanasi, Kangra airport with Amritsar, Jalgaon airport with Raipur, Jabalpur airport with Indore, and Salem airport with Trichy, earlier than providing it to potential bidders, a supply near the event stated.
According to civil aviation ministry officers, this line-up is in line with the AAI’s proposed new mannequin whereby a worthwhile airport and a non-profitable airport shall be clubbed earlier than being placed on the block. One of the first causes behind that is to liberate AAI assets tied up with these airports.
An e-mail question despatched to AAI did is but to elicit a response.
Responding to a query in Parliament in February, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated the standards for number of airports for PPP mode included quantitative elements akin to complete terminal space, progress fee in income, occupancy fee, complete working prices, per passenger working prices, air visitors motion, passenger numbers, cargo volumes, and many others. This is along with qualitative elements akin to capability utilisation, growth chance, future growth plans, financial attractiveness of location, city inhabitants, web state home product, and many others.
In the yr ended March 31, 2020, Bhubaneswar, Amritsar, Indore and Trichy reported income of Rs 34.22 crore, Rs 92 lakh, Rs 4.47 crore and Rs 22.85 crore, respectively. Varanasi and Raipur reported losses of Rs 1.6 crore and Rs 26.65 crore, respectively. The smaller airports being clubbed with these essential belongings, Jharsuguda, Gaya, Kangra, Jalgaon, Jabalpur and Salem, reported losses of Rs 16.29 crore, Rs 24.68 crore, Rs 9.72 crore, Rs 3.72 crore, Rs 19.24 crore and Rs 8.76 crore, respectively. Kushinagar didn’t report any loss.
In her Budget for 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had stated that as a part of the asset monetisation programme, the federal government plans to privatise AAI-owned airports in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Most of those smaller airports are primarily depending on the federal government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN for every day operations. Additionally, the Varanasi-Kushinagar-Gaya circuit was deemed necessary by the federal government for tourism functions.