AAI receives double concession fees from eight privatised airports in FY23

Delhi airport is run by GMR Group-led Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the other seven aforementioned airports are run by Adani Group companies.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) received more than double the concession fees from eight privatised airports in FY23 as air travel has increased significantly, and legal issues with operators of Delhi and Mumbai airports have been partially resolved.

In the April-December period of FY23, the AAI received Rs 2,444.38 crore from private operators of airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Mangaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Trivandrum. This is 84.54 per cent more than the concession fees collected in entire FY22 (April-March), according to data reviewed by Business Standard.

“In (entire) FY23, the concession fees collected from these eight airports have more than doubled,” a government official stated.

While the Delhi airport is run by GMR Group-led Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the other seven airports are run by Adani Group companies.

During 2020-21, DIAL and Adani Group-run Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) stopped paying concession fees to the AAI by invoking force majeure provisions due to the impact of Covid-19. DIAL and MIAL went into arbitration to resolve the matter. According to the contracts, DIAL and MIAL have to pay 45.99 per cent and 38.7 per cent of their respective gross revenues as concession fees to the AAI.

While the arbitration proceedings are ongoing, DIAL and MIAL have made interim settlements. DIAL restarted paying monthly concession fee from May 2022 while MIAL resumed monthly concession fee payments from January 2022.

Therefore, DIAL – which did not deposit any concession fees in FY22 -- deposited Rs 1183.4 crore in April-December period of FY23, as per the AAI data. MIAL, which deposited Rs 1,027.67 crore in FY22, has deposited Rs 875.49 crore in April-December period of FY23. However, MIAL's concession fees payment for the entire FY23 would be higher than in FY22, according to the government official.

The monthly concession fees collection from airports in Mangaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Trivandrum has significantly jumped in April-December period of FY23. The concession fee for each of these six airports is calculated by multiplying a fixed amount with passenger traffic passing through the airports.

With monthly concession fee mop-up rising, the AAI is expecting to post a net profit of Rs 1,943 crore in FY23.

The AAI achieved its highest ever capital expenditure of Rs 5,175 crore in FY23. The AAI’s capital expenditure in FY22 stood at Rs 3,724 crore.

Indian carriers flew an average of 372,840 passengers per day in 2022-23, which was 59.81 per cent more than in 2021-22, according to data reviewed by Business Standard.

However, the average daily domestic traffic in 2022-23 was still 3.65 per cent below the pre-pandemic peak of 2019-20. Domestic air traffic was significantly impacted by the pandemic in FY21 as well as FY22.