Govt Reviewing Airport Privatisation To Control High User Charges

In order to insulate airlines and passengers from high user charges, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is reconsidering management contracts to private operators at India’s six airports.

“We need to consider our learnings from the airport contracts awarded in the past,” a senior ministry official said. “One concern raised by stakeholders is the cost of turnaround of an aircraft. The turnaround cost for a jet is around $6,000 at an Indian private airport, whereas it costs $2,300 at Changi (Singapore) airport. We need to ensure privatisation does not increase the cost of the airport,” he added.

The Civil Aviation Ministry will seek approval from an inter-ministerial group to give management contracts at six airports: Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

The ministry is also taking stock of the views expressed by the Comptroller and Auditor General on privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. “We are looking into these concerns. All this will be debated in the inter-ministerial group,” the official added.

The United Progressive Alliance government had initiated the process to award management contracts for these airports in 2013.
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