The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has recommended the Central government to privatise airports at Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Indore, Raipur and Trichy.
The recommendation came as the Central government has already privatised airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati for operation, management and development through public-private partnership (PPP) model in February 2019.
AAI, which works under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country. In February 2019, in the first round of airport privatisation, the Adani Group bagged contract for all six airports. AAI had chosen the winner on the basis of the ‘per-passenger fee’ offered by bidders.
On 3 July 2019, the Union Cabinet had approved the leasing out of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports to the Adani Group. The cabinet is yet to approve the leasing out of the other three.