Adani Airports investing in both physical and digita infra: CEO Arun Bansal
Apr 01, 2024
New Delhi [India], April 1 : Arun Bansal, CEO of Adani Airports Holding, said on Monday that it is investing in both physical and digital infrastructure to enhance passengers' experiences and is committing significant capital expenditure.
"As an airport operator, we are doing few investments which will facilitate passenger journey tremendously. Number one is the investment in digital tools. So we are digitizing a lot of processes for the benefit of the passenger. Number two is to increase the physical infrastructure," Bansal told ANI.
On Sunday, the Adani Group opened a new terminal at Lucknow airport, aimed at migrating all the domestic and international flights to the new one.
"And the new terminal (at Lucknow) is almost 80 per cent larger than the combined T1, T2. We are building a new terminal which will also be commercial in Guwahati, which will be significantly bigger than existing T1 and T2," he said.
He further apprised that its new airport at Navi Mumbai will be commercially operational from first quarter of next year. Besides, it is going to start a process to build a new terminal in Jaipur and in Ahmedabad.
"...we are investing physical infrastructure and digital which needs significant amount of capex, and we are committed to invest that to cater for the growth," he added.
Asked whether Adani Group was looking at foraying into airport business outside India, he said the focus now is on consolidating its presence in India.
"Right now, our focus is to consolidate our presence in India, make sure that we provide best-in-class experience for our consumers, and if the right opportunity comes, we will look at it," he asserted.
Further, asked about growth in Indian civil aviation sector, he said, "we are very bullish on the growth of aviation in India," and expects the country to become the second-largest market in the next two decades.
As you know that India will soon become the third largest economy. So with the GDP growth, of course, aviation is bound to grow leapfrog. And I foresee that in the next 20 years, in the next two decades, India will be the second largest aviation market in the world. And hence, the infrastructure need is there for us to invest in," he noted.
