New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI) The Cabinet today approvedamending the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) Actwhich would change the definition of 'major airports' and helpthe regulator function more efficiently, according to sources.
AERA was set up as an independent regulator forprotecting the interests of airports, airlines and passengers.
Sources said the Cabinet meeting, chaired by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, has cleared the AERA (Amendment) Bill,2017.
The bill would ease the pressure on AERA and help itperform duties with greater clarity, they added.
Currently, major airports with an annual capacity tohandle one-and-a-half million passengers come under thepurview of AERA.
With the amendment, the definition of major airportswould be changed to any aerodrome which has or is designatedto have annual passenger capacity of three-and-a-half million,sources said.
During the period from 2009-17, the number of majorairports increased from 12 to 27.
Sources said that many airports come under the purview ofAERA, which makes it difficult to efficiently determinetariffs and monitor service standards of major airports sinceresources with the regulator are limited.
The amendments in the Act would help in addressing suchconcerns, they added.
The country's civil aviation sector is among the fastestgrowing in the world and domestic passenger growth has been inhigh double-digits for more than two years. PTI RAMSA.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.