Is Chennai Airport going to be privatized?

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

Is Chennai Airport going to be private? Airport Authority of India has conducted a study to find out the feasibility on whether to privatise Chennai airport or not, according to a top AAI official.

The official told Express that the feasibility study was conducted six month ago but he is unaware whether a decision is taken to privatise it or not.

“The feasibility study on privatisation was being conducted for airports that has a passenger movement of more than 15 lakh but we have got nothing in black and white,” said the senior airport official.

This comes in the wake of reports that about 15 airports, including Chennai could be put under private management in the second such initiative.

The Airports Authority of India had plans to privatise the operation and maintenance of the Chennai Airport in 2013 and the bids called were called in 2014 which were later withdrawn in 2015.

Sources indicated that since AAI completed a Rs 2,400-crore upgrade of Chennai and Kolkata airports, the then government citing the expensive upgrade did not to go in for privatisation. Four of the six metro airports in the country, which include New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore, are currently run by private operators.

Sources indicated that initially Airport Authority of India had decided to undertake Operation, Management and Development of the airport through a public-private partnership on Operate, Manage, Develop and Transfer basis.

It floated bids on December 2014 calling for Request for Qualification. Representatives from Siemens Project Ventures GmbH, GVK Airport Holdings, GMR Airport Holdings, Egis Avia, Celebi Aviation, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, Pithavadian and Partners and Flemingo Intl Ltd expressed their interest.

Chennai is the fourth busiest airport in the country with a traffic of nearly 15 million. Currently, the airport is implementing the phase II modernisation project at a estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The master plan for modernization of Chennai airport is to cater to a passenger capacity of 23 million.

Factfile:

1.  Chennai is the fourth busiest airport in the country

2.  It has a traffic of nearly 15 million and with the modernization of airport under the second phase it will have a capacity to handle 23 million.

3.  Airport Authority of India has conducted a study to find out the feasibility on whether to privatise Chennai airport or not.

4.  This is the second time an attempt is made to privatise Chennai airport