The government should not run airports and airlines, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday, adding that he hopes to privatize Air India during 2020.
His comments come at a time when the Kerala government opposed Union Cabinet approval on August 19 to lease Thiruvananthapuram Airport to Adani Enterprises under the public-private partnership (PPP) model for a period. 50 years.
Addressing a virtual meeting on the Namo app, Puri said: “I can tell you from my heart that the government should not run airports and the government should not run airlines.” The Airports Authority of India (AAI) administered by the Center owns and manages more than 100 airports, including the one in the capital of Kerala. On the privatization of Air India, Puri said: “As a going concern, which is attractive to potential bidders, we should privatize it (Air India). And I hope that we can complete that privatization process during this year ”.
Last Tuesday, the central government extended the deadline for submitting offers for Air India by two months until October 30, as the consequences of Covid-19 have disrupted economic activity worldwide. The process of selling a stake in the national carrier began on January 27. This is the fourth extension granted by the government to present offers. “If the government runs an airport or an airline, then they have to follow government rules like L1 and L2, and this is not how commercial entities can operate,” Puri said.
When the government issues a tender, the lowest bidder considered as L1 is the winner.
Puri said he expects domestic air traffic to reach pre-Covid levels by the end of this year. Domestic flights resumed on May 25 after a two-month gap due to the lockdown caused by the coronavirus. Currently, airlines can operate a maximum of 45 percent of their domestic pre-Covid flights.
The central government privatized six major airports, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati, in February 2019. After a competitive bidding process, Adani Enterprises won the rights to manage them all.
In July 2019, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to lease three airports (Ahmedabad, Mangaluru and Lucknow) to Adani Enterprises.
On August 19 this year, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal to lease the other three airports to the Ahmedabad-based company. Earlier this month, Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi opposing the August 19 cabinet decision to lease Thiruvananthapuram airport to the company. Vijayan stated in the letter that the Center needs to reconsider the decision as it will be “difficult” for the state to cooperate.
Kerala’s repeated requests to entrust the airport administration with the special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which the state government is the main stakeholder were also ignored, Vijayan said.
“In view of the unilateral decision taken by the Government of India without giving credence to the strong arguments put forward by the State Government, it will be difficult for us to offer cooperation for the implementation of the decision, which goes against the wishes of the people. of the State, ”he said in the letter.
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