New Delhi: As government proceeds with the process to privatise six AAI airports, a parliamentary panel is understood to have opposed it and recommended that the public sector airports body should itself award management contracts to entities having expertise in the field.
The panel is also believed to have suggested that instead of privatising them, their management can be retained by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which could set up a Special Purpose Vehicle to acquire the necessary expertise in operating these airports. The Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which recently adopted a unanimous report to be submitted to Parliament shortly, is understood to have felt that privatisation of management and operation of the six airports would result in profit-maximisation by private entities, leading to increased costs for passengers and airlines.
