Cabinet leases out Thiruvananthapuram and two other airports to Adani Enterprises

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out three airports, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, to Adani Enterprises that won these in an auction last year. Billionaire Gautam Adani-led private developer had emerged as the successful bidder in a global competitive bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). 

The AAI will get an upfront amount of Rs 1,070 crore from handing over the airports to the private developer, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar.

“The upfront amount of Rs 1,070 crore that will come to AAI will be used for developing airports in smaller airports. The other benefit is travellers will get better facilities,” the minister said while briefing the media.

The Adani Group has won rights to operate, maintain and develop these airports in a public private partnership mode. The company has the right to operate these airports for 50 years.

The leasing out of these airports was part of the original six that were awarded to the Adani Group. The Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports were awarded earlier to the conglomerate.

“The Union Cabinet accorded its approval for leasing of three AAI airports namely, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram for operation, management and development to Adani Enterprises Ltd, who is declared as the successful bidder in a global competitive bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India, for a period of fifty years,” Ministry of Civil Aviation notified.

Airports are leased out to private players for redevelopment for a period of 50 years on a revenue-sharing basis. The private developer gets the rights to have new revenue streams such as real estate development around the airport which will help in offering revenue to the exchequer besides a user fee on passengers.