Adani Airports, part of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, will bid for more airports across India in its ambition to become the leading airport operator, Chief Executive Arun Bansal said on Wednesday.
In the last round of airport privatisation by the government, Adani Airports won bids to operate six airports.
India is expected to privatise about a dozen more airports over the next few years and Bansal said the group would participate in the bidding.
Major airport developments in India include Adani Group’s 2,866-acre airport in Navi Mumbai that will handle 90 million passengers by 2036. Capital New Delhi will also see a new facility with a final capacity of 70 million travelers and it’s being developed by Zurich Airport International AG. Other greenfield airports will come up in the states of Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
All the seven Adani airports saw an increase of 92 per cent in domestic and 133 per cent in international travellers. Similarly, there has been a rise of 58 per cent and 61 per cent in the number of domestic and international flights respectively
Adani Airports is bullish on the country’s aviation market and wants to “do more airports”, Bansal said, adding that under the first phase, Navi Mumbai airport will start operations by December 2024.
The passenger handling capacity will be 20 million in the first phase of Navi Mumbai airport. Adani Airports is also operating Mumbai airport.
The central government is planning to spend about Rs 980 billion ($12 billion) over the next two years on airports, with airline orders for hundreds of new planes to meet resurgent travel demand putting pressure on existing infrastructure.
The world’s fastest-growing aviation market aims to boost the number of airports to 220 by 2025 from the current 148, for which private builders will invest about $9 billion and state-run Airports Authority of India will bring the rest. It involves greenfield projects, new terminals and the renovation of existing facilities, including former military airfields left over from colonial times.
In the next five years, the Centre intends to construct new greenfield airports at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, and Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh.
The Centre intends to develop 100 airports by 2024 under the Regional connectivity scheme (RCS)- Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) infrastructure scheme.
