The civil aviation ministry has said it is open to all alternatives including a joint venture format for the privatisation of the metro airports.

Senior officials in the ministry said they are also open to the possible corporatisation of the airports with investments to be made by the Airports Authority of India.

The ministry has gone back to the drawing boards following the Cabinet decision to ask the ministry to fine tune the plan to privatise the four metor airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennia and Kolkata to improve their functioning.

According to senior ministry officials while the long-term aim would be privatisation, the ministry is considering other patterns for the upgradation of the airports.

Ministry sources said while the joint venture format with AAI having minority share had not been discarded, it has been asked to resolve the questions raised by prospective bidders about the viability of the projects including the proposed revenue stream.

The ministry is working on the alternatives in consultation with the finance ministry to arrive at a decision within a month.

According to ministry sources the main issue to be sorted out if the joint venture format was adopted was whether the investment or revenue model would be followed.

The Cabinet was essentially concerned about the hike in airport tariffs if the private player was given maximum freedom, said sources.

A clearer picture on the issue is likely to emerge after the civil aviation and finance ministers meet later this week.

The airport privatisation issue has been pending for a few years now with the civil aviation ministry not being able to decide on the format.

The ministry had earlier decided to adopt the leasing route, which would require an amendment of the AAI act 1994.

To avoid this the ministry had recently sent a proposal to the Cabinet for forming joint venture companies for the airports with AAI holding 5 per cent stake.

This proposal of the ministry has been contested by a parliamentary standing committee considering the amendment of the AAI Act.