Govt yet to take call on privatisation of Kerala airport

The government on Wednesday said it is yet to take a final call on privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram airport in Kerala where the state government is keen on running it and has urged for the same.

"The Government still has to take a call on whether the airport to which there is a reference... whether we should proceed or the request of the Kerala governemnt should be considered," Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha.

Puri said that the government in 2018 had accorded 'in- principle' approval for leasing of six airports of the Airport Authority of Indai (AAI) - Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Mangaluru and Thiruvanathapuram - for operation, management and development through public private partnership mode.

He said the decision has been taken to proceed with privatisation of three of these airports.

However, as far as the airport in Kerala is concerned, the Chief Minister has written to not privatise this, he said.

"So far governemnt of Kerala is concerned, the Chief Minister has written to us and I will also be meeting him in the next few days. We will have to take a call based on the facts on record and bid received. Kerala government has requested not to privatise the operation of this ariport," he said.

Earlier, former Union Minister A K Antony urged him to take the request of the state government as a special case to which Puri said the Centre had received all shades of opinions including the request by the "Chief Minister that the airport be handed over to the state government for operation."