Only 4 metro airports to be privatised

The government has decided to limit the privatisation of airports to the four metro airports only.

The modernisation of other airports will be undertaken by the Airports Authority of India. The civil aviation ministry has also firmed up a Rs 5,000-crore (Rs 50 billion) modernisation plan for 20 airports.

"AAI will undertake the modernisation of the non-metro airports and we have identified about 20 airports for this purpose in the first phase," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.

Among the four metro airports, the process to modernise Delhi and Mumbai have been set in motion, while Chennai and Kolkata are the next targets. The government is also in the process of developing new airports in Bangalore and Hyderaband in partnership with the private sector.

According to Patel, the plan to upgrade the non-metro airports by the Airports Authority of India will be set in motion by early 2005. It expects to complete the process by December 2006.

As a part of this project, the government will take steps to modernize and upgrade the city side terminals of about ten airports initially. Expressions of interest to appoint global technical advisers have been called for this.

The ministry plans to seek loans from the Rs 40,000-crore (Rs 400 billion) corpus being created by the inter-institutional group (IIG). The Airports Authority of India will also float bonds for serving the proposed loan.

"We are looking at ways to make use of IIG funds. The finance minister has identified aviation as a primary area of interest for the government. There are many non-metro airports which generate traffic," he said.

The airports under consideration of the government include Jaipur, Udaipur, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram, among others. As per the plans of the government, the infrastructure in these airports will be upgraded to international levels.

Besides, there will also be steps to improve facilities to handle additional traffic as well as larger aircraft in these airports. In the initial phase, the government plans to cover international airports. In the subsequent stages, other airports will also be upgraded.

"We are looking at a completely changed airport infrastructure in the country. All the airports in the country will be upgraded," he said.

It is also expected that the government will encourage the greenfield airports in locations which has a potential for air transport. The government will also take a close look at the airstrips at various parts of the country which require improvement to boost tourist traffic.