In the face of new challenges posed in aviation security and safety, the government will soon take a 'fresh look' at the concession agreements signed with private parties on developing airports in the country.
In the face of new challenges posed in aviation security and safety, the government will soon take a "fresh look" at the concession agreements signed with private parties on developing airports in the country.
However, the concession agreements already in existence with private players which govern the running of major airports like those in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Cochin may not be disturbed.
"We are planning to review all the concession agreements. There is a need to have a fresh look to make them better," Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi said at a conference of airport operators from Asia-Pacific here.
"Don't worry, it is not a threat to you," he immediately told the head of GMR-led Delhi International Airport Limited, Kiran Kumar Grandhi, who was seated on the dais at the function.
Observing that the aviation and airport sector would require USD 30 billion worth of investments in the next 15 years, he said with the massive increase in air traffic, the development of new greenfield airports and upgradation of existing ones have thrown up new challenges.
Issues like capital availability of the airport developer and greater coordination between different agencies working at the airports would be stressed or incorporated in the fresh concession agreements that may be entered into between private firms, Airports Authority of India and the government.
These issues would be examined by the Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council shortly, he said.
Later, Zaidi told PTI that the Association of Private Airport Operators (APAO), a body of Indian airport operators, had taken up various issues and made several suggestions which would also be considered in the process of reviewing the concession agreements.
He said various models of airport development were being implemented at different airports including public-private partnership (PPP) which is facing "serious issues".
The APAO has raised reservations on suggestions that the private-led joint venture airport companies be brought under the ambit of statutory audit by the government, the Right to Information should also apply to them and regulatory approaches be evolved for determination of airport tariffs.
"We will address these issues and concerns in an appropriate manner," the Civil Aviation Secretary said.
Noting that the new airports being developed would need to be filled up with increased air traffic, he said "gradual calibrated liberalisation" process would be required to meet this need.
Addressing the conference organised by the Airports Council International, Zaidi said the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had evolved "stringent benchmarks for airports" in terms of quality of services and facilities, whose implementation would be monitored strictly.
He drew attention towards the burgeoning airtraffic in India saying it was growing by 19-20 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
While there were 50 million domestic air travellers at the end of 2010, the number of international passengers stood at 32 million, he said.
Grandhi said there were 113 planes in the country in March 2001, which was less than two per cent of commercial aircraft in the US. The number of aircraft has now risen to 370.
AERA chairperson Yashwant Bhave said as more airports were being developed in the country, issues like their tariff fixation would come under the jurisdiction of the regulatory body.
The AERA would also come up with a formula for determining tariffs that can be levied at the airports by next month which would be made effective from August.
AAI chairperson VP Aggarwal said plush new airport terminals at Chennai and Kolkata be commissioned by October and December.
The AAI, which had taken up modernisation and upgradation of 35 non-metro airports across the country, has already completed work at 24 of these airports and "eight more are to be commissioned in the next 4-5 months," he said.
Airports Council International Asia-Pacific President Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid said the new airports would have to take cognisance of the need for heightened security and safety and changing requirements of the passenger and introduce technological changes to meet these demands.
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