In the last two years, airports in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Cochin have seen a jump in revenue from commercial activities. This information was given by Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

The revenue generated in the airports are as follows. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has garnered revenue of Rs 787.67 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 837.03 crore in 2009-10; The revenue for Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL) was Rs 22.6 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 28.4 crore in 2009-10. Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) saw revenue of Rs 144 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 138 crore in 2009-10. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) saw revenue of Rs 371.96 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 509.44 crore in 2009-10. The revenue for Cochin International Airport Limited was Rs 83.83 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 99.51 in 2009-10.

Patel said that Section 12 of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Act, 1994 defines the functions of AAI which includes establishing commercial activities at the airports and the Civil Enclaves in the best commercial interest of the Authority. Commercial potential of the space available at the airport depends upon the location, size, traffic and nature of passengers travelling from and to each airport.

He also said that the terminal building space is generally first considered for allotment to mandatory services like regulatory agencies and essential services like Customs immigration, police, plant quarantine, health etc. Thereafter, space is allotted to all operating airlines, regular air-taxi operators and non-scheduled operators. The passengers facilities like tourist information counters, postal and telegraph, telecommunications, nationalised banks, railway reservation and any other similar facilities is given next priority. Thereafter, passengers utility with commercial consideration like installation of vending machine, TR stalls, Duty Free Shops, shops (other than duty free shops), transport facility, left luggage, car park, weighing machine, payphones, hotel reservation counter, money exchange counters, insurance counters, etc. is considered within available space.