Adani group to operate five airports for 50 years

The Adanis were the highest bidder for the Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports.

The Adani group has won the bid to operate for 50 years five out of six airports that were put for privatisation by the central government, a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said on Monday.

The Adanis were the highest bidder for the Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports, the official said, adding the bid for the Guwahati airport will be opened on Tuesday.

The AAI chose the winner on the basis of "per-passenger fee" offered by the bidders.

The five airports would be handed over to the Adani group after completion of formalities, the AAI official said.

The official said the bids put by the Adani group were "very aggressive" as compared to others.

The AAI said in a press statement that, as per passenger fee, the Adani group put in a bid of Rs 177, Rs 174, Rs 171, Rs 168 and Rs 115 for airports at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru, respectively.

The per passenger fee would be paid by the Adani group to the AAI.

The GMR Airports Limited -- which operates the Delhi and the Hyderabad airports -- put in a bid of Rs 85, Rs 69, Rs 63, Rs 63 and Rs 18 for the five airports, as per AAI statement.

For the Ahmedabad and the Jaipur airports, the second highest bid was put jointly by the 'National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Zurich Airport International Ag" at Rs 146 and Rs 155, respectively, according to the AAI statement.

For the Lucknow airport, "AMP Capital (GIF II Lux Holdco) 5 LP" was the second highest bidder at Rs 139. For the Thiruvananthapuram airport, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) was the second highest bidder as it quoted Rs 135.

For Mangaluru airport, the Cochin International Airport Limited was the second highest bidder at Rs 45, according to the AAI statement.

The other companies that had put in the bid for the six airports were Autostrade Indian Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, PNC Infratech Ltd and I-investment Ltd.

A total of 32 technical bids were received from 10 companies to operate six airports that are currently under AAI's management.

In November last year, the government had cleared a proposal for managing six AAI-run airports on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

The Ahmedabad and the Jaipur airports received seven bids each while the Lucknow and the Guwahati received six bids each. Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram received three bids each.

The move to manage the six airports on the PPP basis, according to the AAI, is part of an initiative to provide world-class infrastructure and services to stakeholders.

Photograph: Reuters