PremiumNew Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill 2021, which proposes to amend the definition of 'major airport' under the AERA Act, 2008.
The Bill, which was passed amid protests by the opposition parties over the Pegasus snooping issue, was tabled by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
First introduced in March 2021, the Bill was subsequently referred to a parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, which had approved it without any changes.
The committee tabled its report on the bill in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Bill will now have to be passed in Rajya Sabha to become an Act.
"The purpose of this amendment is to pair the smaller non-profitable airports with profitable airports as a combination/package to bidders to make it a viable combination for investment under PPP (public-private partnership) mode," said Poonam Verma, partner, J Sagar Associates.
"This move is also likely to help in expanding the air connectivity to relatively remote areas and as a result, expediting the UDAN scheme. The amendment will allow AERA to regulate tariff and other charges for aeronautical services for not just major airport with annual passenger traffic of more than 3.5 million, but also a group of airports together," Verma said.
However, there is a lack of clarity in the Bill regarding the criterion of deciding which airports will be clubbed together to qualify under ‘a group of airports’ definition, "whether it will be the passenger traffic of more than 3.5 million or some other factors too? This clarity needs to be brought in to achieve the objective of the Bill," Verma added.
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