Public-Private Partnerships to drive development: 11 more airports set for lease

The Union government is preparing to lease 11 Airports Authority of India (AAI) run airports to private companies under a public–private partnership (PPP) model, as part of its broader airport monetisation programme, reports businessline.

According to sources cited by businessline, the proposal has received clearance from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and is now under review by the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), the body that evaluates large infrastructure projects. The final details of the scheme are expected to be announced in the upcoming Union Budget.

Under the proposed structure, one large airport will be bundled with one smaller airport and offered together to private bidders through a competitive process. This is aimed at making the smaller airports more financially viable while encouraging private investment across more parts of the country.

The five larger airports identified for leasing are Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Tiruchirappalli. They will be paired with six smaller airports such as Kushinagar, Gaya, Hubballi, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Jabalpur and Tirupati.

An official final list of pairings is yet to be announced.

The leasing of these airports is part of the government’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), which aims to raise funds by leasing out existing public infrastructure to private operators, while ownership remains with the government.

Under NMP Phase II, the government plans to lease a total of 25 AAI-operated airports to private players over the coming years.

In her Union Budget 2025–26 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the second phase of the NMP will focus on mobilising additional resources through structured asset leasing in key infrastructure sectors, including airports.

The PPPAC will now study the proposal on financial, technical and legal parameters before any final approvals are given.

At present, 14 airports in India are operated under PPP arrangements. These include Delhi and Mumbai, which were the first two airports to be leased under PPP in 2006.

In recent years, airports at Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram were leased through competitive bidding, with private operators paying a per-passenger fee to the government.

Six of these airports namely, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram are currently operated by the Adani Group.

The government has reaffirmed that the PPP route remains a key part of its airport expansion and monetisation strategy, with the aim of improving services, attracting investment and building modern airport infrastructure across the country.