As Adani Eyes Airline Entry, India Weighs ‘Pros and Cons’ of Letting Airport Operators Own Carriers

Photo Credit: Aircraft parked at the Mumbai International Airport. Wikimedia Commons / Andrew Thomas India is looking for more airlines. The question now is whether one of them could be owned by a company running an airport. Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu said Tuesday the government is weighing the “pros and cons” of allowing airport operators to own airlines, but has yet to make a decision. The issue has emerged after Adani Airport Holdings sought a waiver from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) from restrictions that prevent the operator of Mumbai Airport from holding more than a 10% stake in a scheduled airline. “Airports and airlines together operating needs some deliberation,” Naidu told reporters. “We are going to see the pros and the cons of it.” That puts a question that India effectively settled when Delhi and Mumbai airports were privatized nearly two decades ago back on the table: Should the companies controlling the country’s gateways also be allowed to compete with the airlines using them? T