Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)
Mangaluru, Oct 9: The complete management of international airport in the city will be taken over by the Adani Group from October 31, three years after it was given the operational contract.
On October 31, 2020, the Adani Group had taken over the management of six airports of the country. This was the union government’s decision to privatize the airports for their development.
The Adani Group had taken international airport in the city first. Then it also took over management of airports at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati and Trivandrum. The Adani Group took Mumbai airport management in July 2020 from GVK group. At present, a new airport is being built at Navi Mumbai by the group. It is expected to begin functioning from 2024.
According to the contract, till three years, half of the staff belonging to AAI had to work with staff of the Adani Group. Now, the complete management of the airport is going into the hands of Adani.
When Adani took over Mangaluru international airport, there were 118 staff of AAI. Out of them 97 were retained. All were of the level of AGM and below. They are working in tandem with Adani staff looking after finance, HR, administration, commercial, fire service and terminal. As the contract is getting over on October 31, the 97 AAI staff are being transferred to other airports. Only Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Communication Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) does not fall under the control of Adani. The name of the airport will not be changed as per known sources.
Some developments are done in the past three years in the international airport in the city. A hall is constructed for international passengers’ arrival. Two more aerobridges are added. The runway is asphalted and safety is given more importance. One way system is in place in the ground floor for departure as well as arrival. Technology is introduced in parking area. Pre-paid taxi booking, rest room for taxi drivers, drinking water facility, and additional food inside airport are all functioning.