AIRPORTS AUTHORITY PAYS RS.55 CRORE DIVIDEND TO GOVERNMENT

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The Airports Authority of India today presented a dividend cheque of Rs.55 crore for the year 2001-02 to the Civil Aviation Minister Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. The cheque was presented by the Chairman of the Airports Authority of India Shri S.K. Narula. This is the highest ever dividend paid by the AAI to the Government. The AAI had earned a net profit of Rs.266.98 crore last year. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Shri Sripad Y. Naik and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

AAI manages 124 airports which include 11 International airports, 85 Domestic airports and 28 Civil enclaves. It provides air navigation services over 2.8 million square nautical miles of airspace. During the year 2001-2002, AAI at various airports handled about 5 lakh aircraft movements (4 lakh domestic and 1 lakh international); 40 million passengers (26 million domestic and 14 million international) and 9 lakh tonnes of cargo including 6 lakh tonnes of international cargo.