Adani Airports has Rs 60,000-crore capex plan for next 10 years : Karan Adani

AHMEDABAD : The Adani Group has lined up Rs 60,000 crore to expand the seven existing airports in its portfolio over the next 5-10 years, Karan Adani, MD of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, said.

Adani Airports Holdings (AAHL) Chief Executive Officer Arun Bansal said Rs 30,000 crore will be spent on the ‘airside’ in the next five years, while the rest will be allocated to the ‘cityside’ in the next five to 10 years at its seven existing airports in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Jaipur, and Thiruvananthapuram.

The capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 60,000 crore does not include the Rs 18,000 crore allocated for the Phase-I development of the Navi Mumbai airport, scheduled to commence operations by March 2025, clarified Bansal.

Both Bansal and Karan Adani were speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the new terminal inauguration at Lucknow Airport on March 10, built at a cost of Rs 2,400 crore. This will be able to handle 80 million passengers a year.

“The current capacity of our airports is 10-11 crore passengers annually (CPA). This will be increased by up to three times. Lucknow has got a new terminal. Navi Mumbai will open next (by next March). Then Guwahati airport will get a new terminal. We are planning new terminals for Ahmedabad and Jaipur also. Overall, we are looking at a combined capacity of 25-30 CPA by 2040,” Karan Adani said.

He added that these investments will be funded through internal accruals of parent company Adani Enterprises Ltd, and the group has not made any firm plans on listing the airport subsidiary of the company, Adani Airport Holdings Limited, yet.

He declined to comment on reports of $2.6-billion fund-raise by the group for its airport and green hydrogen business.

Bansal 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. “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.”