German company may get to maintain and operate 3 Adani airports

Mumbai: The Adani Group is likely to rope in Flughafen München GmbH, which operates Germany’s Munich Airport, to operate and maintain three airports in Ahmedabad, Mangaluru and Lucknow it had won in a privatisation bid, multiple people in the know said.

The Adani Group last month put out tenders for O&M (operations and maintenance) contracts for these airports. The conglomerate reached out to several airport majors including Changi, which operates the airport at Singapore, and French major Vinci SA.

Munich has now emerged as the favourite and a second person said the initial paperwork has already been completed. The contract entails operating and managing the airport, and also training its staff to global standards. The group is also in talks with at least 40 other companies across the world for different vendor contracts for the airports such as supply of efficient thermal scanners, one of the people cited above said.

The development shows the Ahmedabad-based group’s desire to kickstart work on the airport business months after it asked the government for more time to take over operations, citing negative business impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A spokesperson at the Munich Airport said the company couldn’t make comments “at this time”, advising that the Adani press office should be contacted. A spokesperson for the Adani Group didn’t comment.

EWR Terminal One LLC, a 100% subsidiary of the Munich Airport US Holding LLC, is responsible for maintenance and concession management services at Newark Airport’s EWR Terminal A.