As a part of its airport privatisation scheme, the Airports Authority of India has received 32 technical bids from ten companies to operate six airports in India. These include Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangalore, Ahmedabad and Jaipur.

Last November, the government had cleared a proposal for managing six AAI-run airports on public-private partnership (PPP) model.

According to this recently concluded bidding process, Ahmedabad and Jaipur have received seven bids each. Lucknow and Guwahati received six bids each. Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram received fewer bidders as compared to others, with three bids each.

Corporate and infrastructure giants like the Adani Group and GMR Infrastructure Ltd participated in this airport privatisation project. Other bidders include Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), PNC infratech Ltd, Autostrade India, and National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF).

However, Indian airport operator GVK and Singapore’s Changi Airports International did not participate in this round.

Currently, the technical bids have only opened. The financial bids for privatisation will open on February 25. Although, the letter of award will be issued to the highest bidder on February 28.  aai.aero