Adani gets till 12 Nov to take over airports

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has given Adani Enterprise time till 12 November to take over the management of three privatised airports of Ahmedabad, Mangaluru and Lucknow due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, ministry of civil aviation said in a presentation on Thursday.

"Out of the six airports for which bids were invited in the first round, (the) Concessionaire Agreement has already been signed in February 2020 for three – Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru. Due to covid-19, M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) has cited force majeure and filed for extension in March, 2020 and sought time till 15th February, 2021. AAI has given time till 12 November 2020," it said.

"The other three - Guwahati, Jaipur and Trivandrum have also been approved for leasing out on PPP and the Letter of Award issued to M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL)," it added.

Meanwhile, AAI is now set to privatize another six airports, which include Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Indore and Trichy, for operation under Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

"Modalities for this proposal are being worked out. It is expected that additional investment of around Rs.13,000 Crore will be made by private players in the 12 airports," the presentation added.

AAI has also identified six airports at Belgavi, Jalgaon, Kalaburagi, Khajuraho, Salem, Lilabari to set up flying training institutes, AAI's chairman Arvind Singh said on Thursday.

"This would be done on a competitive bidding basis. We have reduced concession fee and other charges to incentivise private operators to set up their shops. AAI will soon come out with a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the same," Singh said during a press conference held by civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.