Adani Group to start taxi service with aggregators in its airport cities

Adani group may soon launch a fleet of passenger vehicles that will list in the ride aggregators in 7 cities where the group operates airports, a report in Economic Times (ET) said. 

The company is reportedly in talks with Uber to chalk out a plan to make it operational. The two companies recently announced a partnership under which Adani Airports now has dedicated pick-up zones for Uber at 5 of its 7 airports, ET said. 

"This is part of the Adani Group’s strategy to build ancillary offerings that support the airport business growth," a person aware of the matter told ET. 

"For players like Uber and Ola, entry of a large participant in the fleet operator segment could come as a shot in the arm," another person told ET. 

The Ahmedabad-based, Gautam Adani-led group has been investing in companies to complement its airport business.

Adani group in October acquired aircraft maintenance company AirWorks for Rs 400 crore. Earlier, it picked a 74 per cent stake in the Flemingo Travel Retail. It also acquired a 20 per cent stake in Cleartrip in October 2021. 

The group operates airports in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Mangaluru. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, taxi-hailing apps such as Uber and Ola have faced a supply problem with drivers staying away, ET said.