25 Airports Including Bhubaneswar Airport Earmarked for Leasing till 2025

Bhubaneswar: 25 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports including Odisha’s Biju Patnaik International Airport have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022 to 2025, the Rajya Sabha was told on Monday.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) said that as per National Monetization Pipeline (NMP), 25 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports namely 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 have been earmarked for leasing over the years 2022 to 2025.

AAI has leased out eight of its airports under Public Private Partnership (PPP) for operation, management and development on long term lease basis. The airports are Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi – Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai – Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow – Lucknow International Airport Limited (LIAL), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad – Ahmedabad International Airport Limited (AIAL), Mangaluru International Airport – Mangaluru International Airport Limited (MaIAL), Jaipur International Airport – M/s Jaipur International Airport Limited (JIAL), Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Guwahati – Guwahati International Airport Limited (GIAL) and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport – TRV-Kerala International Airport Limited (TIAL).

Airports of AAI are leased out in public interest for their better management utilizing private sector efficiency and investment. States and passengers are the ultimate beneficiary of enhanced airport infrastructure and facilities created by private partner, who operates, manages and develops the leased airport under PPP. Airports have emerged as a nucleus of economic activities and have multiplier effect on the economy of the State. The revenue received by AAI from the leased airports is also utilized in development of airport infrastructure across the country, the Minister said.