Parliament Question: Performance of Airports

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION Lok Sabha UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. : 3034 ( TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 7th August 2025 ) PERFORMANCE OF AIRPORTS

3034. SHRI SAPTAGIRI SANKAR ULAKA Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

be pleased to state:-

(a) whether comparative assessments based on service quality, Airport Service Quality rankings, cargo efficiency and passenger satisfaction indicate significant differences between the set of airports leased out in 2019 and other Public-Private Partnership

(PPP) airports and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the leasing process conducted in 2019 fully adhered to standard financial and technical eligibility norms including prior airport operations experience and if so, the details of any deviations from these norms;

(c) the current User Development Fee (UDF), Passenger Service Fee

(PSF) and other major charges levied at the airports leased in 2019 as compared to similar PPP airports along with the reasons for any higher tariffs;

(d) the capital investment made and the change in direct and indirect employment at these airports since their takeover in comparison with the original bid commitments and with other PPP operators; and

(e) the number and nature of complaints received regarding pricing or service deficiencies at the 2019-leased airports and the regulatory or contractual actions taken in response thereto? ANSWER Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION (Shri Murlidhar Mohol)(a): Passenger satisfaction at major airports operated by Airports Authority of India (AAI), airports of AAI leased under Public Private Partnership (PPP) after 2019 and other PPP airports is measured through Airport Service Quality Survey (ASQ) conducted by Airport Council International (ACI). The average ASQ rating & world rank of these airports during 2024 is at Annexure-I.

;

(b): In 2018, Government of India constituted the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS) under the Chairmanship of CEO, NITI Aayog, to take forward the bidding process of six AAI airports under PPP.

EGoS finalized the contours of the bidding process which inter-alia included various provisions viz. no prior airport experience etc.

These provisions ensured that there are more bidders ensuring more competition. As a result, AAI received a total of 32 bids from 10 entities for its PPP proposal of six airports and thereafter following due procedure, these six airports were leased to the highest bidder.;

There was no deviation in the bidding process from the contours as was decided by EGoS.;;

(c): The details of User Development Fee (UDF) and other major charges levied at the six AAI airports leased after 2019 as compared to similar PPP airports is enclosed as Annexure-II. The UDF charges at these six leased-out airports are quite comparable to those at other PPP airports, except for Delhi and Mumbai. ;

Passenger Service Fee (PSF)-Security Component has now been termed Aviation Security Fee (ASF) and is levied currently at the rate of Rs. 200/- for embarking domestic passenger and USD 12 for embarking international passengers. ASF is utilized to meet expenditure on providing security at airports. ;

(d): Total Capital Expenditure allowed by Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), an Independent Tariff regulator, for these six airports for current control period is approximately Rs. 13681 crore. Additional investments by PPP partners leads to increased economic activity, which in turn creates additional jobs. Development of airports leads to increase in passenger movements, tourism development, employmentgeneration and augmentation in circle rates of land valuation resulting into enhanced collection of various taxes/stamp duties etc., in the respective State and contributes to the overall development of the Country.

(e): As per the Agreements entered into by AAI with the PPP partners, the performance and compliance by PPP partners is subjected to periodical monitoring by AAI through Independent Engineers, Auditors, Inspections etc.

;

The Concessionaire are required to periodically submit report regarding achievement of Key Performance Indicators and service quality requirement to AAI, as specified in Concession Agreement.

As regards airport charges, AERA determines the tariff for aeronautical service provided at major airports, where it follows a uniform tariff methodology across major airports, regardless of ownership.

******Annexure-I Statement referred in part (a) of reply of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.

3034 for answer on 07.08.2025 AIRPORTS SERVICE QUALITY (ASQ) RATING AND RANK OF AAI OPERATED AIRPORTS, AAI AIRPORTS LEASED UNDER PPP AFTER 2019 AND OTHER PPP AIRPORTS, FOR 2024 2024 S.No Name of the airport Rating on 5 WORLD RANK point scale AAI AIRPORTS 1 Amritsar 4.68 85 2 Bhubaneswar 4.88 67 3 Calicut 4.82 76 4 Chennai 4.91 63 5 Coimbatore 4.75 81 6 Goa 4.92 62 7 Indore 4.82 78 8 Kolkata 4.88 68 9 Patna 4.74 82 10 Pune 4.85 74 11 Raipur 4.83 75 12 Srinagar 4.33 146 13 Trichy 4.89 64 14 Varanasi 4.89 66 15 Chandigarh* 5.00 36 Average of AAI Airports 4.81 AAI AIRPORTS LEASED AFTER 2019 1 Ahmedabad 4.98 52 2 Lucknow 4.99 42 3 Mangalore 4.96 58 4 Guwahati 4.88 69 5 Jaipur 4.98 51 6 Trivandrum 4.82 77 Average of airports

4.94 leased out after 2019 OTHER PPP AIRPORTS 1 Bangalore 4.97 53 2 Cochin 5.00 31 3 Delhi 5.00 1 4 Goa (MOPA) 4.93 60 5 Hyderabad 5.00 1 6 Kannur 5.00 32 7 Mumbai 5.00 1 Average of Private

4.99 airports*Chandigarh airport is operated by CHIAL which is AAI's subsidiary.Annexure-II Statement referred in part (c) of reply of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No.

3034 for answer on 07.08.2025 COMPARISON OF UDF CHARGES AT 6 PPP AIRPORTS vis-à-vis OTHER PPP AIRPORTS (FY 2025-26) 6 AAI AIRPORTS LEASED UNDER PPP Other PPP/AAI Airports Landin Landin Parkin g Parking g g Year of UDF Rates Rates UDF Rates Rates Airports Leasing Airports (in ₹) (in ₹ (in ₹ per (in ₹) (in ₹ (in ₹ Out per MT) per per MT) MT) MT) 735/315 Bengalur Mangalore (Emb./Dis 950 49.30 550 510 17 u emb.) Ahmedaba Hyderaba 600 441 20.09 750 14.10 d 2020-21 d 440 129/56 Lucknow 950 882 20.09 Delhi (Emb./Dise 347 18 mb.) 840/360 Thiruvana 175/75 (Emb./Dis 1400 10.65 Mumbai nthapuram (Emb./Dise 402 13.50 emb.) mb.) 875/375 840/360 2021-22 Mopa Jaipur (Emb./Dis 1295 15 (Emb./Dise 850 13

(Goa) emb.) mb.) 625/265 Guwahati (Emb./Dis 1195 20.09 Kannur 850 485 12 emb.) Srinagar 1050 - 10.32 Emb. = Embarking Disemb.= Disembarking MT= Metric Ton *****