Adani Group will invest ₹60,000 crore over the next ten years to develop its airports into aviation hubs and commercial attractions for city residents.

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At present, the group operates seven airports in the country and has one under construction in Navi Mumbai. Together, these have annual passenger handling capacity of 100-110 million. The group plans to increase their capacity by 2.5-3x by 2040.

The group will invest ₹30,000 crore in enhancing airport terminal and airside facilities at group airports in next five years. This will be in addition to the ₹18,000 crore it has already invested in building the first phase of Navi Mumbai airport.

“We are building a new terminal in Guwahati. We have a plan to build a new terminal in Ahmedabad. Early next year, the Navi Mumbai airport will start and will have a capacity of 20 million passengers per year,” said Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited on Sunday after the inauguration of a newly integrated terminal at Lucknow. 

Karan Adani, managing director of Adani Ports and SEZ Limited said group-operated airports in Ahmedabad and Lucknow will eventually turn into aviation hubs with direct connectivity to Europe and the US. Now residents from Ahmedabad or Lucknow travel to Europe or US via West Asia, Delhi or Mumbai. “What we will see is that these airports will be connected directly to the destinations overseas,” Adani said.

Additionally, the group plans to invest ₹30,000 crore in city side developments at eight airports over ten years. These would include construction of hotels, multiplexes and other facilities. The group expects significant revenue upside from commercial development as aeronautical tariffs are regulated and expects commercial investments to materialise over ten years depending on various approvals.

Bansal said, the investments will be made with internal funding from the group. He declined to comment on reports of $2.6 billion fund raise by the group for its airport and green hydrogen business. He said the priority is to operationalise Navi Mumbai airport and start city side development at airports and added the group will look at an IPO of business at a later date.

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“Internationally, our strategy is to participate in (airport development) opportunities where it makes sense for the group...where there is larger opportunity in the country to participate in ports, transmission etc. We are looking at one specific country at the moment,” Bansal said.

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