Looking to acquire new airports through govt bids, says Adani Airports CEO

Adani Airports aims to acquire more airports through government bidding, a top executive said recently in an interview.

Adani Airport Holdings Ltd CEO Arun Bansal said in an interview with ANI that Adani Airports is "very ambitious" to acquire more airports through government bidding.

"This is the policy agenda. This needs to see the next round of bidding when the government decides to go and we of course to ambition to try for new acquisitions," Bansal said in the interview.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has leased out eight airports for operations, management and development under Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Out of these, seven airports are managed by Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL). These include Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru.

The Adani Group forayed into the airports sector in 2019.

Bansal also talked about his belief in the growth of the Indian aviation industry and said that in a period of five to 10 years, 900 million passengers would be flying through Indian airports.

Citing a comparison, he said that before the Covid pandemic, around 300 million passengers flew from Indian airports. He further added that airports are playing a significant role for Indians today. 

The Adani Group acquired a 74 per cent stake in Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in July 2021, post the stake purchase transaction, with 50.5 per cent being bought from GVK Group and 23.5 per cent from minority partners including Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group.

With the addition of Mumbai airport, Adani Airport Holdings has control over 33 per cent of India’s air cargo traffic.

Also Read: Amritsar-Singapore flight takes off hours before scheduled time; 35 passengers left behind 

Also Read: PM Modi to flag off two new Mumbai metro lines today; to be opened for commuters from January 20