India should have three national carriers of comparable size to compete globally and support its fast-growing aviation market, Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL) Chief Executive Officer Arun Bansal said on Tuesday at the Aviation India and South Asia 2026 summit in New Delhi, according to ANI and The Hindu BusinessLine.
Source: ANI via NewKerala
"I think India deserves to have three national carriers," Bansal said, adding that IndiGo and Air India could be counted among the country's national carriers, "but we need a third of their equal size." He stressed the need to build globally competitive domestic airlines before opening the sector to greater international competition.
Bansal said passenger traffic in India was forecast to rise nearly fourfold, from around 300 million currently to 1.1-1.2 billion by 2040-45. AAHL currently handles about 100 million passengers a year across its eight airports and aims to handle about 300 million annually over the next decade, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
The airport operator plans capital spending of about $10-11 billion (yaani roughly Rs 94,000-1,03,000 crore) over the next seven years to expand capacity, and will bid in the next privatisation round covering 11 airports, according to the ANI report carried by NewKerala.
Asked whether the Adani Group would enter the airline business itself, Bansal ruled it out, saying competing with the airlines that use its airports would not be a sound strategy. "Never a good strategy to compete with your customer," he said, according to a second BusinessLine report from the same summit.
Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
On Mumbai airport's Terminal 1 redevelopment, Bansal clarified that November 5 was the deadline under the slot-allocation process for the summer 2027 schedule, rather than a deadline imposed by the operator. According to Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), the Air India Group, IndiGo and Akasa Air have finalised plans to shift international operations accounting for about three million passengers a year to Navi Mumbai — around 60 per cent of the proposed transition.
India is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets, but international traffic still largely flows through foreign hubs. Bansal's call frames the next contest: whether a third Indian carrier of IndiGo-Air India scale emerges, and whether airport capacity — including Adani's planned $10-11 billion expansion — can keep pace with traffic heading toward 1.1 billion passengers a year.