The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has collected approximately ₹2,032 crore in passenger fees from private partners operating six airports leased in 2019, according to a statement by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The airports in Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram were leased to the Adani Group under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
As of June 2024, private operators have paid the Per Passenger Fee (PPF) totalling around ₹2,032 crore. Additionally, AAI has received approximately ₹2,758 crore from these private partners as an upfront fee to cover capital expenditure incurred at the airports.
Mohol explained that the leasing of these airports, intended to improve operations, management, and development, is set for a 50-year term.
The National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) has earmarked 25 AAI airports for leasing between 2022 and 2025. However, Mohol noted that this list is indicative and finalisation will depend on further assessments.
Currently, India has 157 operational airports capable of handling over 530 million passengers annually.
In a separate update, Mohol reported that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued 16,092 aircraft maintenance engineer licences from 2019 to 1 August this year. There are 57 Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (AME) training institutes approved to provide maintenance training.
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