The diversified Adani group, which has interests in ports, shipping, power and other key infrastructure with USD 11-billion in annual revenue, is marking its entry into the airports space bagging a 50-year contract to run five government-run airports Monday.
The government had last year put six AAI-run airports for privatisaiton under the PPP mode. The bids were opened Monday in which the Adani group has emerged the highest bidder for the Ahmedabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Mangaluru and Jaipur airports.
The bid for Guwahati will be opened Tuesday, the AAI said in statement. The AAI selected the winner on the basis of "per- passenger fee" offered. These five airports will be handed over to the Adani group after completion of formalities, the authority said.
"We are delighted to win the bids (Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapurma and Mangaluru airports) invited by the AAI in December for managing these airports under the PPP model," the Adani group said in a statement.
The company considers the aviation industry to be a growing sector given government's continuing focus on creating world class airports.
"We'd be aiming to scale up infrastructure to bring these facilities on par with global standards," it added.
The AAI said as per passenger fee, the Adani group offered Rs 177, Rs 174, Rs 171, Rs 168 and Rs 115 for the Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru airports, respectively.
GMR Airports, which operates the Delhi and the Hyderabad airports, on the other hand, offered a low Rs 85, Rs 69, Rs 63, Rs 63 and Rs 18 for these five airports.
For Ahmedabad and Jaipur, the second highest bid came in jointly from by the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and Zurich Airport International at Rs 146 and Rs 155, respectively, AAI said.
For Lucknow, AMP Capital was the second highest bidder at Rs 139, while for Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation was the second highest bidder offering Rs 135 a passenger.
For Mangaluru, Cochin International Airport was the second highest bidder at Rs 45, it said, adding other companies that had put in the bids were Autostrade Indian Infrastructure, PNC Infratech and I-investment.
A total of 32 technical bids were received from 10 companies to operate six airports that are currently under AAI's management.
Last November, the government had cleared a proposal for managing six AAI-run airports on public-private partnership (PPP) basis.
Ahmedabad and Jaipur received seven bids each, while Lucknow and Guwahati got six each and Mangaluru and Thiruvananthapuram three bids each.
The move to manage these six airports, according to AAI, is part of an initiative to provide world-class infrastructure and services to all stakeholders.