New Delhi, February 1:

Thousands of workers picketed airports across India today in a strike called to protest government plans to privatise the country’s two largest landing facilities at New Delhi and Mumbai.

However, flight schedules in and out of the 130 airports — manned by workers of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) — were unaffected as air traffic controllers came in for work, officials and reports said.

In New Delhi and the financial capital of Mumbai, workers shouted anti-government slogans as they launched a sit-in protest outside the entrances to the main terminals.

“Unless and until the government heeds our demand to withdraw its decision to privatise Mumbai and Delhi airports, we will not stop our agitation,” said Pramod Sharma, a union secretary, the Press Trust of India reported. “We are ready to go to the extent of even sacrificing our lives.”

The protests gathered momentum after the government announced yesterday that construction firm GMR Industries, based in southern Hyderabad and partnered by Germany’s Fraport had won a bid to privatise Delhi airport. India’s GVK group and the South African Airport authority won the bid to privatise Mumbai airport.

Plans to privatise Delhi and Mumbai airports had stalled for years amid opposition by workers fearing job losses but both consortiums have promised to absorb 60 per cent of the workforce after three years with AAI to absorb the rest.

Both airports are notorious for their lack of passenger amenities, congested operating conditions and scant duty-free shopping or entertainment for transit passengers. Another 20 to 30 smaller airports are expected to be modernised.

Sharma said the employees were not against plans to upgrade the airports. “We are only opposing handing over the process to private players. The Airport Authority of India is fully capable to do that,” he said.

Union officials in Mumbai said about 3,000 staff had walked out from domestic and international airports at 10:30 am but they did not include traffic controllers or pilots. “Everything at the airport is normal. The only difference is that instead of using aero bridges they are using stepladders,” said Air India spokesman Jitender Bhargava of passengers entering planes. Air services in and out of central Indian cities of Indore and Nagpur and the eastern metropolis of Kolkata remained unaffected. Airports in the southern cities of Kochi and Chennai and the tiny tourist state of Goa that handle traffic to the Gulf region and Southeast Asia were also unaffected, reports said.

In Delhi, AAI spokesman Prem Nath said contingency measures were in place to ensure “all services, both air and ground, remain normal and all the facilities for passengers are unaffected.” Federal cabinet was expected to meet today to approve the deals.

Yesterday, a government official said the Indian airforce was on standby to handle air traffic control if the employees did not turn up for work. About 19 million domestic passengers passed through India’s airports in the year to March 2005. Analysts predict annual growth of 20 per cent over the next five years as rising incomes and lower fares make air travel more affordable.