Adani group wins bid to operate 5 airports

February 25, 2019: The Gautam Adani-led Adani Enterprises has set its footprint into the airport sector, reportedly becoming the highest bidder for the five of the six airports being privatised namely, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangalore, Trivandrum and Lucknow Airport. The bid for the Guwahati airport could not be opened due to a stay granted by the Guwahati High Court against the privatisation process.

The government had put the non-metro airports on sale and invited bids from private players to operate them for 50 years. In what can be mentioned as an aggressive bidding, Adani reportedly outbid the GMR group by quoting Rs 177 per passenger against GMR’s Rs 85 for the Ahmedabad airport. For Lucknow airport Adani bid Rs 171 per passenger beating AMP capital’s quote of Rs 139. The bids were based on the highest monthly fee per passenger.

According to a senior AAI official, the group will be awarded the airports as soon as formalities are cleared and after the award of bids, Adanis can take control of the airport.

India’s airport sector has been primarily dominated by two companies GMR and GVK group. With the entry of private players, who do not have prior experience but have been permitted by the government to bid for the projects, the duopoly is likely to break.