Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is also trying to resolve issues like the lack of high-speed transportation links to the newly built airport and the existing one to attract passengers
Billionaire Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is negotiating with the airlines, including IndiGo, Air India Express and SpiceJet, to shift some part of their operations to his newly built Navi Mumbai Airport. The port-to-power conglomerate’s airport is likely to start functioning from May this year, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. This comes at a time when the group is increasing its efforts to boost its airports business, including non-aeronautical ones as well.
Tata Group’s Air India is reportedly going to carry out a test flight to check the airport’s preparedness for overseas flights in the month of April. Prior to this, in December last year, a validation flight was carried out by IndiGo’s single-aisle Airbus 320.
Both the existing and the new airports are managed by Gautam Adani’s ports-to-power conglomerate. Presently, the power-to-port conglomerate is trying to resolve issues like the lack of high-speed transportation links to the newly built airport and the existing one to attract passengers. A metro line between the two airports is reportedly in the pipeline, but it will take some years for it to become a reality. Local authorities are also looking to cash in on the new airport and have planned to build an “aero city” around it.
Adani Group’s new airport will initially start its operations with one terminal, which will have an annual capacity of 20 million passengers and depending on the demand in the future, the power-to-port conglomerate will increase its capacity, the report mentioned.
Recently, the Economic Times reported that the Adani Group is planning to diversify its airport business and is also focusing on expanding its retail business from airports to highways and malls in a phased manner.
“Our aim in the domestic side is to take over the entire airport business and run the entire retail operations ourselves over a period of time as the concession gets over for existing players,” the chief executive of Adani Airport and Ospree, Gaurav Singh told ET.
The conglomerate has planned to increase the number of retail stores from 50 in 2025 to 310 by next year, the expansion spree by the power-to-port conglomerate will be largely dominated by food & beverage stores with nearly 40 shops.