Lucknow: The Adani Group has announced a monumental investment of Rs 30,000 crore towards the expansion of seven existing airports within its portfolio over the course of the next five years. This significant undertaking comes in addition to the construction of the Navi Mumbai greenfield airport, a project estimated at Rs 18,000 crore. Revealing the ambitious plans, Karan Adani, Managing Director of Adani Ports, shared with TOI that the conglomerate is also gearing up to allocate Rs 30,000 crore towards city-side development at its airports within a span of 5 to 10 years. This massive financial commitment is set to be facilitated through internal accruals of the parent company, Adani Enterprises.
The Adani Group currently operates airports in key locations including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. Speaking on the expansion strategy, Karan Adani, who is also the son of Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, outlined the projected increase in airport capacity. “The current capacity of our airports stands at 10-11 crore passengers annually (CPA). This will be augmented by up to three times,” he stated. Elaborating further, he highlighted the imminent completion of the new terminal at Navi Mumbai, followed by plans for new terminals at airports in Guwahati, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. The collective efforts aim to achieve a combined capacity of 25-30 CPA by the year 2040.
The expansion initiatives will be carried out in a phased manner, with Lucknow Airport serving as a prime example. The newly inaugurated terminal, boasting a capacity of 80 lakh passengers per annum, is slated to undergo successive expansions, reaching 1.3 crore passengers annually in the next phase, and eventually scaling up to accommodate 3.8 crore passengers annually by the year 2035.
The rationale behind this ambitious drive lies in the anticipation of evolving trends in air travel. Karan Adani emphasized, “In the foreseeable future, we anticipate non-metros surpassing hubs and providing flyers with direct connectivity across the world. Moreover, their domestic connectivity within the country is also expected to witness significant enhancements.” Currently, direct international connectivity out of India primarily originates from major metropolitan cities, with Tier II cities relying on nearby hubs for connecting flights to destinations worldwide.
This strategic endeavor aligns closely with the government’s vision to position Indian airports, equipped with the extensive network connectivity of leading airlines such as Air India and IndiGo, as pivotal hubs for transfer passengers. As the Adani Group embarks on this ambitious journey of airport expansion and modernization, it sets the stage for a transformative leap in India’s aviation landscape.