The modernisation of airports is continuing rapidly as large-scale investments are planned to be made in developing brownfield and greenfield airports.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other Airport Operators have targeted a capital outlay of more than Rs 90,000 crore from 2019-20 to 2024-25 for the modernisation of airports.

This capital outlay is made for expansion and modification of existing Airport Terminals, construction of new Terminal Buildings, expansion or strengthening of existing runways and aprons, upgrading of Airport Navigation Services (ANS), control towers, technical blocks etc. across several airports in the country.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen V K Singh in a written reply to Lok Sabha today (21 July).

Along with the investments by the union government, private participation has increased in the development of airports.

During the last three years, AAI has leased out six of its airports, namely, Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Mangaluru International Airport, Jaipur International Airport, Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram International Airport through Public Private Partnership (PPP) for operation, management and development on a long term lease basis.

“The criteria for selection of private partners for the above mentioned six airports was the Per Passenger Fee payable to AAI bid by private partners,” the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.