Airports Authority of India

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) (Hindi: भारतीय विमानपत्तन प्राधिकरण) is an organization working under the Ministry of Civil Aviation that manages all the airports in India. The AAI manages and operates 126 airports including 12 international airports[1], 89 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves. The corporate headquarters(CHQ) are at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi. V.P Agrawal is the current chairman of the AAI.

HISTORY

The AAI was formed on 1 April 1995 by merging the National Airports Authority (NAA) and the International Airports Authority of India (IAAI), to create a centralized organization that could effectively manage both the international and domestic airports. Presently, it is owned 100% by the Government of India.

FUNCTION

• Control and management of the Indian airspace extending beyond the territorial limits of the country, as accepted by ICAO
• Design, Development, Operation and Maintenance of International and Domestic Airports and Civil Enclaves.
• Construction, Modification and Management of Passenger Terminals
• Development and Management of Cargo Terminals at International and Domestic airports.
• Provision of Passenger Facilities and Information System at the Passenger Terminals at airports.
• Expansion and strengthening of operation area viz. Runways, Aprons, Taxiway, etc.
• Provision of visual aids.
• Provision of Communication and Navigational aids viz. ILS, DVOR, DME, Radar, etc.

Privatisation of Airports

The AAI was involved in a tussle with the Ministry of Civil Aviation over the issue of privatization of its two most profitable airports, Delhi Airport and Mumbai Airport. The Government of India handed over these two airports to private companies for the purpose of modernization in 2006. The privatization for Mumbai has been handed to GVK Group and for Delhi to the GMR Group.

The airports which have been privatized are :

• Cochin - Cochin International Airport
• Bangalore - Bengaluru International Airport
• Delhi - Indira Gandhi International Airport
• Hyderabad - Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
• Mumbai - Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport

International Projects

The AAI has been involved in various consultancy projects with Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Maldives, Nauru and Afghanistan The AAI also provides trained personnel for operation, maintenance and management of airports in these countries