New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS): The Adani Group on Monday made a major mark in the the airport development and management business by bagging contracts to operate five non-metro airports in the country in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

This comes as a major development for the group amidst reports that the company plans to acquire a stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd, which is currently run by the GVK group.

The company was the highest bidder for all the five airports -- Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru -- as per financial bids opened during the day, according to a statement by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The bid was decided on the basis of the highest monthly per passenger fees quoted by the bidder.

Adani Enterprises will look after the operation and management of the five airports, currently run by the AAI, for 50 years.

Commenting on the development, an Adani Group spokesperson said: "The airports at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram) and Mangalore (Mangaluru) remain lifelines to their respective states that will enable us to infuse enhanced growth and give wings to the aspirations of the Indian people. We would be aiming to scale up the infrastructure to bring these facilities on par with global standards."

GMR Airports was the only company, other than Adani, which submitted bids for all the five airports.

In November last year, the government had cleared a proposal for managing six AAI-run airports on public-private partnership (PPP) basis. The Guwahati airport was the other one to be put out for privatisation but the bids for the airport were not opened on Monday.