Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola on Thursday said that the government will privatise 6-10 airports in the next round of privatisation.

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Kharola added that the government is looking to club a profitable airport along with a non-profitable airport in the next round.

So far, the government has awarded the airports of Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati, Jaipur and Mangalore to Adani Group, under the first round of divestment process which kickstarted in 2018.

Separately, the government will float the preliminary information memorandum for Air India Air Transport Services Ltd to commence its divestment process once again, Kharola added.

AIATSL or Air India Air Transport Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India and is involved in activities of ramp handling for aircraft, cargo handling and passenger handling.

“The government is constantly monitoring the air traffic levels and will ensure that there is enough supply in the market to match the demand,” Kharola said, adding that currently there is 60-65 percent utilisation of the allowed 80 percent limit in domestic flights.

Domestic flights were suspended for a two-month period and resumed from May 25 with capped fares.

A decision on fare cap will be taken in view of the demand situation, Kharola said, insisting that the fare cap is "temporary."

The government is also keen to further open up international passenger flights. Currently, international passenger flights operate under air travel bubble arrangements.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)