The central government is preparing to initiate the next phase of airport privatisation and development under the public-private partnerships (PPP) model following the 2025-26 Budget, as per information from three officials familiar with the plans.

According to a senior official from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the cabinet note outlining the next phase of airport privatisation is nearly finalised and will be presented to the Ministry of Finance next week, before being forwarded for Cabinet approval.

The official further indicated that the central government is keen to begin this process before the close of the 2024-25 fiscal year, with preliminary consultations anticipated to commence after the 2025 Budget.

Another government source informed that efforts to expedite the next phase are underway to enable an announcement by the Finance Minister in the upcoming Budget.

This official also mentioned that final approvals regarding which airports will be included in the new phase will be obtained from the Cabinet, noting that some airports initially part of the privatisation plan have been reconsidered.

Emails sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had not been responded to at the time of publication.

As part of the central government’s National Monetization Pipeline (NMP), 25 airports managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have been designated for leasing between 2022-2025. These include airports in Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Trichy, Indore, Raipur, Calicut, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Patna, Madurai, Surat, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Chennai, Vijayawada, Vadodara, Bhopal, Tirupati, Hubli, Imphal, Agartala, Udaipur, Dehradun, and Rajahmundry.

The government aims to lease these airports to improve their operations through private sector investment and efficiency.