New Delhi/Ahmedabad, 15 August 2012

Operations and management of Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel international airport may go to private hands in future. Central Minister of Civil Aviation Ajit Singh’s written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha indicates so.

The minister in his reply told Rajya Sabha that a Task Force on Financing Plan for development of airports constituted under the Chairmanship of Member, Planning Commission has recommended that operations and management of Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports may be taken up through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The Task Force has also been recommended that operations and management of airports at Chennai and Kolkata could be taken up through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

A Task Force that has recommended PPP model for Ahmedabad airport has been constituted to review the implementation of the Financing Plan prepared in 2006 and to prepare a Financing Plan over the Twelfth Five Plan period.

“The Task Force emphasized that projected investment at these airports can fructify only if the PPP approach was adopted extensively. This would not only help attract the requisite volumes of investment, it would also ensure generation of significant volumes of non-aeronautical revenues that would help reduce the passenger charges to affordable levels,” the minister said.

Ahmedabad airport is presently operated and managed by the Airport Authority of India(AAI).