Amritsar airport among 6 up for privatisation

New Delhi, December 1

In line with the government’s aggressive disinvestment policy, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sent a proposal to privatise six more tier-two city airports, including that of Amritsar. Sharing details on the recommendation made by AAI, officials in the government said these included airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.

In February, the government had privatised airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati for operation, management and development through public-private partnership (PPP) model.

“As six airports have already been privatised in February, the AAI in its board meeting on September 5 decided to privatise six more airports,” a senior aviation sector official said.

Since the AAI board has already taken the decision, a recommendation in this regard (privatising six airports) has been sent to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which will take the final call, the officials said. Currently, the AAI owns and manages more than 100 airports. — TNS