Delhi airport settles for talks; AAI refuses waiver but agrees to deferred payment
The country’s two largest private airports, in Delhi and Mumbai, are taking different routes to seek a waiver from revenue payment to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as the nationwide lockdown continues. While GVK group-owned Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) has invoked the force majeure clause to suspend payment for the April-June period, GMR’s Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has opened a dialogue with the AAI for the same. A MIAL spokesperson didn’t respond to a query on the matter.
The AAI has not yet agreed to give a waiver and has instead asked the two entities to defer the payment by three months. “We took legal opinion from the Solicitor General of India and have decided to defer their payment for April-June. But as of now, we have not agreed to a force majeure event and haven’t given any waiver,” said a senior AAI official DIAL and MIAL under concession agreements with the AAI, signed during the privatisation process in 2006, have to pay part of their revenue to the authority.
DIAL pays 45.99 per cent and MIAL 38.7 per cent of its revenue as fees to the AAI. This forms the bulk of the AAI’s revenue, making it one of the few profitable public sector units in the country. A complete waiver, said AAI officials, would force the authority to increase its external borrowings.
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