Onus on civil aviation ministry panel to decide on airport privatisation

NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry has decided to take an inter-ministerial group’s (IMG) approval before proceeding on a proposal to privatise operations and management at six airports. The IMG is headed by civil aviation secretary V Somasundaran and has representations from the Planning Commission as well as the law and finance ministries. It has been set up to consider aviation-related matters.

“There are various issues that have come up during our consultations with the stakeholders. We also need to consider our learnings from the airports awarded in the past into account, which will help us in deciding the best for the country,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be named.

“All these observations will be discussed at the IMG, which will then take a call.” The six airports that are to be privatised are Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Guwahati, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

The plan to privatise operations at these airports was announced by the previous UPA government, but it could not award the contracts before the Lok Sabha polls.

The new government is still studying the comments of stakeholders. The official explained that there have been various concerns raised by the stakeholders. “One of them is the high cost of turnaround of an aircraft at private airports in the country, compared to other hub airports. Turnaround cost for a jet is around $6,000 at an Indian private airport, whereas, it costs $2,300 at Changi airport (Singapore),” he said