Are the airports in India so badly maintained that they need to be modernised?
Indeed. There are in fact 449 airports/airstrips in the country. Among these, the AAI owns and manages 5 international airports, 87 domestic airports and 28 civil enclaves at defence airfields and provides air traffic services over the entire Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas. Some 35 million domestic and international passengers travel through these airports every year. But most of the domestic airports are shabbily managed. The air traffic has boomed in the last two years and several private airlines have been launched. But the infrastructure at all the airports has remained pathetic. This prompted the government to go ahead with the modernisation/privatisation of the Mumbai and Delhi airports. What was the process of modernisation? To begin with, the government invited technical bids and financial tenders from private companies/consortia to build and maintain the two airports. Last year, the ministry of civil aviation received six bids to modernise the airport in Mumbai an
