Adani Group to takeover Mangalore airport on Oct 31

Adani Group will take over the operations at the Mangalore Airport on October 31, clearing the decks for its further development through the public-private-partnership mode.

The Airports Authority of India, which currently operates the airport, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Adani Mangalore Airport Limited for provision of reserved services once the handover is completed by the end of this month.

The reserved services at the airport include provision for customs, immigration, plant and animal quarantine, health, weather-related services, and security.

Similar MoUs were also signed for Ahmedabad and Lucknow airports.

The AAI also signed separate agreements for provision of communication, navigation and surveillance and air traffic management services at the three airports.

The Adani Lucknow Airport Limited and Adani Ahmedabad Airport Limited will take over operation, management and development at the Lucknow and Ahmedabad airports on November 2 and November 11 respectively.

The Adani Group group had bagged the 50 year concession for operating six AAI operated airports – Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwhati, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum, and Mangalore – which were put up for auction by the Modi government.

The Adani Group had quoted the highest per-passenger fee for all the airports to bag the contracts in a very competitive race.

The AAI was expected to receive Rs 1,000 crore as upfront payment followed by another Rs 1,300 crore for the six airports.

The AAI Board has also recommended six more airports – Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy for operation, management and development through the public-private-partnership mode.