Centre set to monetise 25 airports between 2022 and 2025 to offset losses

Continuous losses in operating airports across the country have made the Civil Aviation Ministry shortlist at least 25 airports for asset monetisation between 2022 and 2025, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen Dr VK Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday (December 10).

The airports earmarked under the National Monetization Pipeline are Bhubaneshwar, 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.

The Civil Aviation Minister gave the information in response to a question asked by MP Mimi Chakraborty on how many airports does the government plan to privatise in the coming five years.

The airports shortlisted for asset monetisation have as annual traffic above the threshold of 0.4 million passengers (in FY 2019 and 2020). Besides they have a sizeable proposed capital expenditure plan as per the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP).

The plan to monetise airports is not new. In August, the Union Government had declared it plans to raise ₹20,782 crore within four years by way of monetising 25 airports.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has identified Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) International Airport in Tamil Nadu among 13 airports for operations, management and development of the airports through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode in public interest and for better management of the airports. In financial year (FY) 23, the ministry plans to monetise eight airports, including Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi and Jodhpur.

The next year i.e. 2024, Chennai, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Vadodara, Bhopal and Hubli airports will be monetised. Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun and Rajamundhry will be taken up for monetisation in the last round.

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Even after bringing these airports under PPP mode of operations, AAI will remain the owner of the airports and all these airports will revert to AAI once the Concession Period is over.

Gen V K Singh said that 133 of the 137 airports in the country suffered heavy financial losses during the COVID pandemic. The MoS Civil Aviation said except Kandala (0.11 crore), Kanpur Chakeri (6.07 crore), Bareilly (0.68 crores), and Porbandar (1.54 crores) all other airports suffered huge losses.

Delhi and Mumbai airports suffered losses of ₹317 crore and ₹331 crore respectively. The Goa airport was an exception with a profit of ₹146 crore in FY 2019-20.