CIAL Gears up to Bid for Four Major Airports.

The first greenfield airport in the country to be developed under Public-Private Partnership, an underutilised business model in the state, Cochin International Airport has over the years has become a name synonymous with success by the international standards. Clocking an increase of almost 15 per cent on the passenger traffic front in 2014, the airport also registered strong revenue returns with a whopping Rs. 69 crore profit in the first half of the fiscal.

CIAL is now all set to extend its expertise in the field by taking part in the bidding to take over the operation and development of four airports, which the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has proposed to manage in PPP model. The date for submitting the final bid for the four airports - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Jaipur and Kolkata - is March 29. According to airport officials, their history of cost-effective management would be a major factor supporting their cause. 'We have managed to construct the new international terminal at only a quarter of the square feet rate when compared to the Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi. Also, in all other major airports, a sum is levied from even domestic passengers as User Development Fee (UDF). At CIAL, we don't levy UDF on even the international passengers,' said an airport official.

However, there are other factors that could play a pivotal role. 'Earlier, there was a clause which stipulated that only those companies with at least 10 years' of experience in operating and managing the airport could submit their bids. However, now the clause has been removed and we will be facing stiff competition from several other companies which have no such experience. The second issue is related to the possibility of operating the airport via Joint Ventures (JV).

'We will be teaming up with other agencies for operations like ground handling in our management of the airport. If the AAI disallows JVs, the project won't become a reality. Of the four airports, we would be giving more preference for the smaller ones like Jaipur, as it would be easier to manage,' officials noted. Around two years ago, the company had bid for managing Lucknow airport, the privatisation of which had since gotten stuck in the pipeline.

There are many advantages for a company operating via the PPP model, says Airport director A C K Nair. 'One of the main advantages when compared to a PSU is that the decisions could be streamlined more efficiently. When it comes to raising funds for a project or increasing the worker competence and cost efficiency, the partnership model emerges the clear winner,' he said.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS