Mumbai International Airport Limited’s (MIAL’s) board has approved the transfer of MIAL and Navi Mumbai International airport to Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) from GVK Group. Adani Airports will take over the management control of MIAL and will begin the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport next month and complete the financial closure in the next 90 days. This new international airport will be commissioned in 2024.

Adani Airports is a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd. Earlier this year, it had received approvals from the Government of India, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) of Maharashtra, and the Government of Maharashtra.

“Our larger objective is to reinvent airports as ecosystems that drive local economic development and act as the nuclei around which we can catalyse aviation-linked businesses. These include metropolitan developments that span entertainment facilities, ecommerce and logistics capabilities, aviation dependent industries, smart city developments, and other innovative business concepts,” said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group.

Adani Group’s existing portfolio of six airports, and thereafter the operationalisation of the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL) provides a transformational aviation platform allowing the Adani Group to interlink its B2B and B2C business as well as create several strategic adjacencies for the Group’s other B2B businesses. “Our airport expansion strategy is intended to help converge our nation’s Tier-1 cities with the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities in a hub and spoke model. This is fundamental to enabling a greater equalization of India’s urban–rural divide, as well as making international travel seamless and smooth,” he added.

MIAL is India’s second busiest airport by both passenger and cargo traffic. With eight airports in its management and development portfolio, AAHL is now India's largest airport infrastructure company, accounting for 25 per cent airport footfalls. With the addition of MIAL, AAHL will now also control 33 per cent of India’s air cargo traffic. While the world navigates its way out of an unprecedented crisis, post-pandemic demand for air travel in India and the rest of the world is expected to surge. The International Air Transport Association expects global passenger traffic to recover to 88 per cent of pre-Covid levels by 2022 and exceed pre-COVID levels in 2023. “I believe that the economic value that cities create will be maximized around airports and the cities of tomorrow will be built with the airport as the focal point. This is a fundamental lever for modern world development and the rapid build-out of our airport infrastructure will create multiple employment structures that generate thousands of new job opportunities,” Adani said in a statement.

At 12 per cent CAGR, AAHL expects its share of passenger traffic to grow from 80 million in FY20 to 100 million in FY22. With management control of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), AAHL is poised to join the league of the world's leading airport operators that cater to over 100 million passengers and 200 million non-fliers in a year, presenting a massive 300 million strong consumer platform.

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