Union Cabinet may approve privatisation of 6 airports in next meeting, as Centre sets deadline

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet is likely to take decide on the privatisation of six airports in its next meeting. The Cabinet may approve for privatisation of Amritsar, Indore, Ranchi, Trichy, Bhubaneshwar and Raipur airports.

While Varanasi, Amritsar, Indore, Bhubaneswar and Trichy airports operate international flights, Raipur currently handles only domestic flight operations.

According to sources, the government wants to approve privatisation of six airports before August 15. The bidding process will begin after approval from the Cabinet. 

The government had started the privatisation process of 12 state-run airports in November 2018. In the first phase, the decision was taken to privatise these six airports; Ahmadabad, Mangalore, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur. 

The Adani Group had emerged as the highest bidder for all the six airports from the first phase. 

In May 2020, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) took a review meeting of the Divestment and privatisation status and it directed that within three months, the process of privatisation of the remaining six airports must be completed.