Four major airports – Rajamahendravaram, Tirupati, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam – had suffered a whopping ₹119 crore loss during the 2018-19 financial year in Andhra Pradesh.
As per the Airports Authority of India’s report on the ‘Loss-making airports (2018-19)’, the total expenditure on the four airports had exceeded ₹268 crore against their revenue of ₹148.35 crore.
Since early 2020, the operations at these airports were halted at regular intervals due to the lockdowns during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tirupati airport suffered the highest loss of ₹42.70 crore. It had barely earned ₹21.72 crore against the expenditure of ₹64.42 crore. The Vijayawada airport had reported a loss of ₹41.70 crore against ₹73.24 crore expenditure with a meagre revenue of ₹31.54 crore.
The Rajamahendravaram airport registered a revenue of ₹8.61 crore, the lowest among the four airports. Its expenditure was more than ₹41.45 crore, and the loss was a whopping ₹32.84 crore.
The revenue earned by the Kadapa airport was ₹57 lakh, but the expenditure was more than ₹10.38 crore.
The Visakhapatnam airport, however, managed to earn a revenue of ₹86.48 crore against an expenditure of ₹89.48 crore.
Tourist attractions, international sports events, and international flight services remain the prime revenue sources for the airport.
Privatisation threat
Rajamahendravaram MP and Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, M. Bharat, had stated that strengthening the AAI was the need of the hour.
Speaking at a meeting of the Standing Committee in New Delhi recently, Mr. Bharat feared that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021, would ultimately lead to privatisation of the loss-making airports.