Staff protest at MIA forces interested bidders to return 

Mangaluru:  GMR Airport Private Ltd and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund have solicited interest in managing the Mangaluru International Airport following the government’s move to privatise six of its airports – Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Ahmedabad and Jaipur – on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

Representatives of both the companies had arrived at the airport premises here on Monday, January 14 to conduct an independent assessment before submitting their bids. The representatives however were unable to conduct the exercise as they met with stiff opposition from airport staff who came to know of their presence. 

The AAI will choose the bidders to operate the airports on the basis of “per-passenger fee”.

Meanwhile, buoyed with the success of this protest Shravan Kumar, secretary of Airport Employees Association’s local unit said that they would hold similar protests if such developments take place in future.