Airports Authority of India

File:Aai logo.jpg

Old logo

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is an organization working under the Ministry of Civil Aviation that manages all the airports in India. The AAI manages and operates 126 airports including 11 international airports, 89 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves. The corporate headquarters(CHQ) are at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi.

History

The AAI was formed on 1 April 1995 by merging the National Airports Authority (NAA) and the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI), to create a centralized organization that could effectively manage both the international and domestic airports.

Functions

• Airport Development and Construction Services
• Air Traffic Management Services
• Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) Services
• Ground Support and Safety Services
• Aviation Fire Service (AFS)

Revenue

Most of AAI's revenue is generated from landing/parking fees and fees collected by providing Air Traffic Control services to aircraft over the Indian airspace.

Only 16 of the 126 airfields operated by the AAI are profitable while the other airports incur heavy losses due to under utilisation and poor management [1].

Privatisation of Airports

The AAI is involved in a tussle with the Ministry of Civil Aviation over the issue of privatisation of its two most profitable airports, Delhi Airport and Mumbai Airport. The government of India has decided to hand over these two airports to private companies for the purpose of modernisation.

The privatisation for Mumbai has been handed to GVK and for Delhi to GMR.

International Projects

The AAI has been involved in various consultancy projects with Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Maldives, Nauru and Afghanistan The AAI also provides trained personnel for operation, maintenance and management of airports in these countries [2]

External links

• AAI website