Privatised airports: bigger, better?

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The civil aviation ministry has set the ball rolling for another round of airport privatisation, which will begin with Chennai and Lucknow and extend to Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Guwahati. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is offering a 30-year contract for Chennai and Lucknow.

Eleven firms have shown interest. In contrast to the earlier privatisation of airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, the terminals on offer have been upgraded by AAI - so a dispute over user development charges is not expected.

The earlier round of privatisation has led to rapid growth in the number of passengers and flights. But India still ranks low on quality of airport infrastructure: