NEW DELHI: The 21st Foundation Day of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was celebrated recently in national capital New Delhi. On the eve of the event, the AAI hosted a gala evening that included a dinner hosted by Chairman S.Raheja for employees, current and retired, and their families.
Employees who had done excellent work during the year were felicitated.
R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, said, "We are proud of Airports authority of India and they are the largest airport operators of the country. Running 125 airports without any hassle is not an easy task. People believe that the government authorities don’t work well, but the kind of recognition and award Airports Authority of India has received is quite commendable. We are all proud of them."
The Airports Authority of India manages 125 airports across the country. Recently, Jaipur and Lucknow airports won the first and second place of the 2015 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards in the category of 2 to 5 million passengers per annum.
S.Raheja, AAI Chairman, said, "This time, we have given a record dividend of Rs. 538 crore to the government. Our net worth has also reached above Rs. 12,000 crores. Scheduled airlines are operating on our 70 airports. In total, we have 95 operational airports. We have further plans to operationalise 30 non-operational airports under the regional connectivity scheme of National Civil Aviation Policy of the Civil Aviation Ministry."
Witnessing a 20 per cent growth of domestic travellers, the Airports Authority of India has extensive plans to expand 11 airports, including Jaipur, Patna, Guwahati, Leh and Ahmedabad.
Anuj Aggarwal, Member HR, Airports Authority of India, "We want to highlight the achievements and good work done by our team. We have given awards to those who have done good job."
G.S. Bawa, General Manager (Public Relations), said, "On the occasion of 21st anniversary, we are proud that the task awarded to us to construct airports, four of them have ranked in ASQ (Airport service Quality) ratings. It clearly indicates that our work it at par with international standards."
The airport infrastructure, loaded with world-class facilities, is developing in the country as the demand is rising with more people travelling through domestic and international airports.