Adani Airport City Limited (AACL), a wholly owned company of Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), on Thursday announced a major plan to develop a modern airport city around six airports. The company will invest more than Rs 20,000 crore in the first phase.
These projects will be developed in an area of about 655 acres around Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur and Guwahati Airport. In the first phase, approximately 22 million square feet (22 million square feet) of mixed-use infrastructure will be created.
According to the company, about 70 percent of the total investment will be spent on Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Development work will be done on about 440 acres of land in these two cities.
AACL says that in these airport city projects, facilities like hotel, shopping mall, entertainment, convention center and commercial offices will be available at one place. These will be connected to the airport, metro and city transport network, so that passengers and local people can get better facilities.
The company said that this project is being prepared on the lines of world-class airport districts like Singapore's Changi, Dubai International, Amsterdam's Schiphol and Seoul's Incheon. The objective is to make the airport not just a hub for flights but also a major center for trade, tourism, investment and urban development.
AAHL Director Jeet Adani said, "The world's successful airports have today become major centers of trade, tourism and urban development. The aviation sector in India is growing rapidly and airports can no longer be limited to air travel only. Our aim is to develop such modern urban centers where airports become the basis for investment, employment, better passenger experience and long-term development of cities."
These airport cities are being designed in such a way that people can easily move around on foot. Here hotels, offices, retail stores, restaurants, entertainment centers and convention facilities will be available in one complex, so that travelers, businessmen and local people can get all the facilities together.
Under this plan, AAHL has signed an agreement with IHG Hotels & Resorts to develop five luxury and premium hotels. Under this, Kimpton hotel brand will also be launched in India for the first time.
The company also said that it is in talks with many Indian and foreign companies in the hotel, food and beverage, retail and entertainment sectors.
Jeet Adani said that these projects are being designed with the help of the world's leading design and engineering companies. In these, new trends related to modern workplace, hospitality, retail and entertainment have been kept in mind.
According to AACL, all Airport City projects have received LEED Gold pre-certification from the US Green Building Council. This means that in these projects, special attention will be given to environmental protection, energy efficiency and walkable public spaces.
Many big companies are involved in these projects as design, construction and consultants. These include Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), Benoy, Zanera Space, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects, PSP Projects, CBRE, JLL and Cushman & Wakefield.
At present AAHL is the largest private airport operating company in the country. The company operates Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports. Apart from this, the company is also developing Navi Mumbai International Airport.
