Never a good strategy to compete with your customers: Adani Airports CEO on airline foray

It is not a good strategy to compete with your customers, said Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) CEO Arun Bansal, clarifying on whether the conglomerate will foray into the airline space.

He said airlines are the customers of AAHL. “It is never a good strategy to compete with your customers,” said Bansal. He said AAHL and Adani Group should be segregated in this context.

AAHL will take part in the privatisation process for airports and aims to manage 300 million passengers annually at its airports over the next ten years, said Bansal at the Aviation India and South Asia 2026 conference in New Delhi.

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Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports are included in AAHL's portfolio.

Bansal added that work is in progress to increase airside capacity at Mumbai airport. The renovation of Terminal 1 is expected to be completed by early 2030.

Bansal’s remarks came after reports earlier in the year stated that the Adani Group wanted the government to amend an existing clause that prevents airport operators of Delhi and Mumbai from holding more than 10 per cent stock in a scheduled airline. However, the company said that they were not interested in the airline business.

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IndiGo founder and MD Rahul Bhatia in fact commented on the development and said there will be a massive conflict of interest over a period and it will be against the interest of consumers.