Will private players look at regional airports now?

Government envisages PPP model for regional airports, allows commercial development of land

State-owned airports will now be allowed to monetise the huge parcel of land that it holds across the country in order to encourage private sector participation in developing these airports. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his speech of the Union Budget  2017-18 proposed a change in the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Act allowing the airport operator to use the land bank for commercial purposes. At present, the act allows an airport operator to use land only for aviation-related services. With 128 airports across the country, AAI owns almost 55,000 acres of land.
 

The minister also said that airports in