Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Q. Why is it in News ?

A. In the recent monsoon session, Parliament passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Q. What are the Key features of AERA Bill, 2021 ?

It seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008.
The 2008 Act established the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
AERA regulates tariffs and other charges (such as airport development fees) for aeronautical services rendered at major airports in India.
The 2008 Act designates an airport as a major airport if it has an annual passenger traffic of at least 35 lakh.
The central government may also designate any airport as a major airport by a notification.
The Bill adds that the central government may group airports and notify the group as a major airport.

Q. Why has the definition of a major airport been amended?

The Amendment has changed the definition of a major airport to include “a group of airports” after the words “any other airport”.
The government hopes the move will encourage the development of smaller airports and make bidding for airports with less passenger traffic attractive.
It plans to club profitable airports with non-profitable ones and offer them as a package for development in public-private partnership mode to expand connectivity.

Q. Was there a need to amend the AERA Act?

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) awarded six airports — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati for operations, management and development in public-private partnership mode in February 2019.
In 2020 too, the AAI has approved leasing of another six airports Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Tiruchi.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to club each of these airports with nearby smaller airports for joint development.
The move follows FM’s Budget Speech this year, in which she said the government planned to monetize airports in tier-2 and tier-3 cities

Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021...