After dominating trade, ports, power and energy, Gautam-Adani led Adani group will now make its presence felt in the aviation sector as it bags to operate five airports across the country including Ahmedabad. After a few years of the Airports Authority of India's proposal to privatise Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International airport, Adani Group has finally won the bid, by being aggressive in quoting per passenger pay to the AAI.
Adani Group has outbid GMR, Delhi airport operator, by quoting more than double the amount quoted by GMR. Shocking many in the aviation industry, the Adani group emerged as the highest bidder for five airports that include Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trivandrum and Mangalore.
As against the AAI's previous proposal of partial privatisation, where the operator was only given the Operations and Maintenance aspect to handle, the new proposal allows the private player to hold at least 75 per cent stake with the AAI as the minority stakeholder. In November last year, the government had cleared a proposal for managing six AAI run airports on public-private partnerships model.
For Ahmedabad, Adani pitched Rs 177 followed by National Investment and Infrastructure Fund bid Rs 146, AMP Capital at Rs 127, I Investment Rs 93, GMR Rs 85, PNC at Rs 66 and Autostrade at Rs 60.
Sources from AAI said, "Until now, GMR, GVK were only players so their bids were average. Adani's bid has shocked many in the aviation sector. No one expected this kind of a bid. It is quite high. So now, Adani has agreed to pay Rs 177 per passenger to the AAI which also means that the user fee at Ahmedabad airport will increase." The bids will now be forwarded to the ministry of civil aviation and then for cabinet approval. The letter of intent will be given to the Adani goup of February 28."
If sources are to be believed, then Adani is also likely to win the bid for Guwahati airport. When dna tried to confirm the same with Ahmedabad airport director Manoj Gangal, he refused to comment on the same.
