New Delhi: The government on Thursday announced that a maximum of ten airports will be privatised in the third round of airport privatisation.
“In the third round (of airport privatisation) six to ten airports are going to be privatised,” Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola told media here.
“The Airports Authority of India is examining the possibility of selling loss-making airports along with a profitable one. AAI is examining the possibility of giving non-profitable airport and profit-making airports as a package. The airports will be given to the private sector,” Kharola said.
Earlier, the government has approved to privatised 12 airports to the private players in the second round.
The government also indicated that “there are around 20 to 25 airports in the country that can be privatised in the coming days.”
During the presentation of Budget 2021-22, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the next lots of airports will be privatised in tier 2 and 3 towns and cities, adding that the airports will be monetised for operations and management concessions.
“Seven port projects worth more than Rs 2,000 crore will be offered by major ports in a public-private partnership model, in FY 2021-2022, to move to a model where private partners will manage operations of ports,” she had said.