NEW DELHI: The Adani Group has denied any plans to enter the airline business. An Adani Enterprises Limited spokesperson said on Friday: “We would like to categorically deny the recent media reports and market speculation suggesting that Adani Enterprises is planning to launch an airline. These reports are entirely baseless and factually incorrect. Adani Enterprises is not evaluating any proposal to enter the airline business.”The statement comes amid govt being reportedly being uncomfortable with a country of the size and economic potential of India having a duopoly of airlines — IndiGo and Tata’s Air India group. Akasa is also coming up in a big way. However, the West Asia crisis coupled with other India-specific issues like closure of Pakistan airspace and the rupee’s relentless crash have made things tougher for airlines here than they are for carriers globally. Both IndiGo and AI Group have slashed flights due to escalating operational costs. Smaller players like SpiceJet are struggling to survive.In this context, India is considering ways to make it easier to launch new airlines. One of these steps reportedly were allowing the operators of India’s busiest airports — Delhi and Mumbai — to hold more than 10% stake in airlines. The GMR and Adani groups run these two hubs, respectively. Both these conglomerates have major presence in aviation that goes beyond just running airports as they have maintenance, repair overhaul (MRO) and other businesses.The Adani Group has tied up with Embraer to make-in-India regional jets. However, the Brazilian aerospace company has linked setting up and operationalising the proposed final assembly line (FAL) to getting a firm order of at least 200 jets. Dholera in Gujarat has been selected as the site for this proposed FAL.Billionaire Gautam Adani-led conglomerate is the biggest private airport operator in India (in terms of number of airports). It operates hubs in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Mangalore and Thiruvananthapuram.
