During the last 5 years, AAI has leased out six of its airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for better operation, management and development of these airports under Public Private Partnership (PPP). These airports were awarded through open tendering to M/s Adani Enterprises Limited which was the highest bidder for all the 6 airports. The details of the one-time upfront payment received by AAI, comprising investment in work-in-progress and investment in Regulated Asset Base, on which these airports have been handed over to the concessionaires are as follows:
•Ahmedabad – Rs 314.03 crore
•Jaipur – Rs. 271.11 million crowns
•Lucknow-Rs. 602.51 million crowns
•Guwahati-Rs. 507.56 million crowns
•Mangaluru-Rs. 221.88 million crowns
•Thiruvananthapuram- Rs. 431.97 million crowns
Further, till October 2022, AAI received concession fees of Rs. 710.88 crore from concessionaires for these six airports. Airfare costs are not directly linked to airports managed by private companies under PPPs. An economic regulator namely the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) of India was established under an Act of Parliament i.e. the AERA Act, 2008 to fix charges for air services provided at major airports in the country.
AERA determines charges at these airports, including those leased by AAI, based on its regulatory philosophy of return on investment, without distinguishing between PPP airports and state/AAI managed airports for all major airports. This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation General (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.
