Minister of State for Civil Aviation General (Retd) V K Singh has said that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other operators have set a target to spend Rs 90,000 crore by 2024-25 on modernisation of airports across the country, the ANI reported.
According to the news agency’s report, Singh, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, said, “AAI and other airport operators have targeted a capital outlay of more than Rs 90,000 crore from 2019-20 to 2024-25, for expansion and modification of existing airport terminals, constructing new terminal buildings, expansion or strengthening of existing runways, aprons, upgrading Airport Navigation Services (ANS), control towers, technical blocks, etc. across several airports in the country.”
The AAI has leased out six of its airports – Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (Lucknow), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Ahmedabad), Mangaluru International Airport, Jaipur International Airport, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (Guwahati), and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport – through Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for operations, management, and development on a long-term lease in the past three years, the ANI report said.
The minister in his address in Parliament said the criteria for selection of PPP model for these six airports was the Per Passenger Fee payable to AAI bid by them.
Expansion or modernisation of airports is a continuous process and is undertaken by the AAI or other airport operators from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand/ willingness of airlines to operate to/ from such airports, Singh added.