Aviation ministry signs MoU with Adani group for providing airport services

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Adani group for providing services, including customs, immigration and security, at the Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports, an official statement said.

The Centre had in February 2019 privatised six major airports of the country -- Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati -- and through a competitive bidding process, the Adani group won the rights to run all of them for 50 years.

The Adani group took charge of the Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Mangaluru airports in October and November last year. It is yet to take charge of the remaining airports.

"An MoU for providing Reserved Services (customs, immigration, plant and animal quarantine services, health services, meteorological and security services) was signed between MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) and Adani Enterprises Ltd for Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports," the MoCA said on Twitter.

Moreover, an agreement for providing communication navigation surveillance-air traffic management (CNS-ATM) services at these three airports was also executed between Adani Enterprises and Centre-run Airports Authority of India on Wednesday, it said.

"The MoU was signed by Rubina Ali, Joint Secretary, MoCA, and Parikshit Kaul, Senior Vice President, Adani Enterprises, while the CNS-ATM agreement was signed between S Swaminathan, GM (ATS), AAI and Parikshit Kaul in presence of AAI chairman, board members and senior officials," the ministry said.