The four major airports - Rajamahendravaram, Tirupati, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam - have witnessed a whopping ₹119 crore for the financial year 2018-19 in Andhra Pradesh, according to the Airports Authority of India’s report-2021 on the ‘loss-making airports’ (2018-19). The total expenditure on the four airports exceeded ₹268 crore as against their revenue of ₹148.35 crore.
Since early 2020, the operations of the airports have been halted at regular intervals due to the two-term COVID-19 lockdowns.
Bleak scenario
Tirupati airport has witnessed the highest loss of ₹42.70 crore. It has barely earned a revenue of ₹21.72 crore as against the total expenditure of ₹64.42 crore. The Vijayawada airport reported the ₹41.70 crore loss against ₹73.24 crore expenditure with a meager revenue of ₹31.54 crore.
The Rajamahendravaram airport has managed to register revenue of as low as ₹8.61 crore, the lowest revenue among the four airports. Its annual expenditure was above ₹41.45 crore in the financial year 2018-19 , with a whopping loss of ₹32.84 crore. The revenue earned by Kadapa airport was barely above ₹57 lakh but the expenditure was above ₹10.38 crore.
Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam has managed to earn a good revenue; ₹86.48 crore as against the expenditure of ₹89.48 crore. The tourism potential, international sports events, and international flight services remain the prime revenue sources for the airport.
Rajamahendravaram MP and Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture M. Bharat has stated; “The strengthening of functioning of the Airports Authority of India is need of the hour to expect better results of the airports”.
In a meeting of the Standing Committee held in New Delhi on Thursday, Mr. Bharat has observed; “The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will enable to privatise the loss-making airports once it becomes the act.”
The Bill aims at pairing or bunching of the loss-making airports to hand over them to the private players in the future. Such a move would pave a way for the privatisation of the airports in Andhra Pradesh given their revenue performances.
