AAI as <i>baniya</i>

The mission of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), its website says, is to “achieve the highest standards of safety and quality in air traffic services”. Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel appears to think otherwise. At a recent meeting, he advised AAI Chairman V P Agarwal to also “think like a baniya” and look at increasing AAI’s revenues. “When we can have shops at all these private airports, why can’t we have shops at AAI airports?” he asked Agarwal. Soon after, Agarwal duly announced that AAI was looking at international airports to increase revenue.