Adani Enterprises is not evaluating any proposal to enter the airline business, said the Ahmedabad-based port-to-power conglomerate on Friday.
“We would like to categorically deny the recent media reports and market speculation suggesting that Adani Enterprises is planning to launch an airline. These reports are entirely baseless and factually incorrect,” said the spokesperson of Adani Enterprises Ltd in a statement.
The denial comes amid reports that billionaire Gautam Adani’s Adani Group is proposing to get into the airline business and that the government is reportedly looking at relaxing norms to allow airport operators to have ownership of airlines. At present, Adani owns eight airports, including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow.
Rahul Bhatia, the co-founder and managing director of India’s largest airline, IndiGo, said on Thursday that there will be a massive conflict of interest if airport operators are allowed to own airlines. He also said that, over a period of time, it would actually be against the interests of consumers.
Responding to a query during the analysts' call to discuss the airline's Q1FY27 results, Bhatia said, “We are reading this news as you are. All I can say is that if the news has any merit, one, it has no global precedence, because it typically would reflect a massive conflict of interest, and over a period of time, it would actually be against the interest of consumers.”
Under the current provisions, private airport operators cannot own more than a 10% stake in any airline.
While the government has not confirmed whether it is reviewing the policy to allow private airport operators to launch airlines, sources said that the Centre is very keen on increasing competition in the aviation sector, given that only two players (IndiGo and Air India group) now control more than 90% of the domestic market.