NEW DELHI: The Adani group on Friday signed agreements with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for operating the airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru. The group had earlier won the bids for operating six AAI airports. “Over the past 30 years, @AdaniOnline has catered to critical demand gaps in India. Today, as we sign the concession agreements for Mangaluru, Lucknow & Ahmedabad with the AAI, it’s the beginning of another historic journey catering to India’s exponential airport infra demands,” Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani tweeted.
The AAI said the concession fee would be utilised for the maintenance and development of brownfield airports along with RCS-UDAN and other greenfield airports. The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) is also known as Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN).
Three subsidiaries of the group – Adani Ahmedabad International Airport Limited, Adani Lucknow International Airport Limited and Adani Mangaluru International Airport Limited – signed concession agreements with the AAI. In 2018, the government decided to privatise airports at Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, and Guwahati. It was for operation, management and development of these aerodromes through the PPP model. The Adani Enterprises had won the rights to run these six airports after competitive bidding process.