This is part of the civil aviation ministry's consultations to amend the Airports Authority of India (AAI) Act, 1994, according to an Economic Times report.

HT.com cannot independently verify the authenticity of the information contained in the report.

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This development comes amid privatisation plans, with about 11 airports in tier II cities like Varanasi and Bhubaneswar being offered to private operators, according to the report.

These privatisation plans are aimed to be completed by the end of the next financial year.

As of now, Chapter 3, Section 12 of the AAI Act says that airport operators can open and maintain hotels, restaurants, and restrooms at or near the airports, and establish warehouses, and cargo complexes for goods storage or processing, but can't open shopping and conference centres, commercial offices, commercial or multi-use complexes, and training facilities.

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“Many of these airports are in proximity to the city and have excess land which is valuable for development,” the report quoted Siddharth Kapur, a veteran airport executive with stints at GMR and Adani airports as saying. This step can also create a vibrant aerocity development and improve the bid values of airports during privatisation,”

This also comes as the government plans to monetize 25 airports over four years to fetch a targeted ₹20,782 crore, as per the asset monetisation plan of Niti Aayog.

This also marks the second governmental attempt to amend the AAI act.

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The first attempt resulted in a 2017 legal challenge from the GMR Group-owned Delhi International Airport (DIAL).

This is because the amendment was restricted to existing public-private partnership assets, which ended up barring Delhi and Mumbai airports from getting similar flexibility in land use, according to the report.