Adani to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in airports; eyes aggressive bids in next privatisation round

Mumbai: Adani Group plans to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in its airports business over the next five years, betting on sustained growth in India's aviation sector, which is expected to expand at 15-16 per cent annually, a top group official said.

"On the airport side, Rs 1-lakh crore in the next five years," Jeet Adani, Director of Adani Airports and younger son of billionaire Gautam Adani, told PTI ahead of the start of commercial operations at Navi Mumbai International Airport on December 25.

Navi Mumbai International Airport will become the latest addition to the Adani Group's expanding airport portfolio, further strengthening its presence in India's aviation infrastructure.

The airport, being developed by Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) in which the Adani Group

holds a 74 per cent stake, is scheduled to commence commercial operations on December 25.

Built at an initial cost of Rs 19,650 crore, the first phase will have a capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually, with plans to scale up to 90 million passengers over time, easing capacity constraints at Mumbai’s existing airport and supporting long-term growth in the region's air traffic.

Adani group had acquired the Mumbai airport from GVK Group.

Beside the two airports at Mumbai, Adani Group operates six other airports at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Mangaluru.

This portfolio includes a mix of metro and regional airports, with the group also planning to bid aggressively for the next round of airport privatisations.

"As a staunch believer, bullish believer in this industry, we would be 100 per cent very aggressive in the next round of bidding for all 11 (airports)," he said.

On investments in the MRO and Flight Simulation Training Centre (FSTC) verticals, he said, "It's a little early to say because we are still in the process of finalising a longer-term strategy and then putting a number to it." However, he added, "at the end of the day, we are deep into it and we want to keep growing our expertise and our depth."

Adani said India's aviation sector - encompassing airports and airlines - could sustain mid-teens growth for the next decade or more.

"The Indian aviation industry as a whole... can continuously grow at 15-16 per cent, mid-teens, year-on-year for the next 10-15 years," he said, pointing to low per-capita air travel compared to China.

"Even if we get to China, it means the whole sector has to grow by a multiple of cities." Calling the growth runway long-term, he said, "So that's a very long growth pathway that we have. And all the signs show that it's seemingly done."

Highlighting capacity constraints at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Adani said, "Mumbai Airport was supply constrained from 2016 onwards and wasn't able to service the additional demand that was coming through," adding that "with the start of Navi Mumbai Airport, we will finally see some relaxation there."

Terming the commissioning of Navi Mumbai International Airport a landmark moment, he said, "In terms of Indian aviation, this is an extremely important moment… firstly, we are seeing an asset of this size coming online and secondly, it's not that it stops at this size. There is four times growth still left to do."

The Adani Group, through its airport arm Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), is India's largest airport infrastructure operator. It controls a significant share of India's air traffic, accounting for roughly 23 per cent of passenger movements and about 33 per cent of cargo traffic nationwide.

In parallel, AAHL is investing in capacity upgrades and phased expansions at existing facilities and scaling ancillary services such as non-aeronautical retail and city-side developments, reflecting its push to transform hard infrastructure into diversified revenue streams.

"We have separated the two businesses. One is the airport infrastructure and the other one is the aircraft services business. So that can include dual use, defence and civilian use," Adani said.

In the previous round of privatisation in 2019, Adani Group won six airports - Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur and Mangaluru - and acquired Mumbai Airport from the GVK Group in 2021.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has identified 11 airports, including six smaller ones, for operations under the public-private partnership model, while the National Monetisation Pipeline envisages leasing 25 Airports Authority of India-operated airports between 2022 and 2025.