Tag Archives: AAHL

Adani Airport partners with Thales for ‘Fly to Gate’ solution at all its airports

Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), and Thales, a global player in advanced technologies, have entered into a strategic partnership to revolutionise AAHL’s international airport operations and passenger experience across the country.

Under this partnership, Thales has already deployed the Fly to Gate solution at seven of AAHL-managed airports in India, streamlining and enhancing the journey for millions of travellers since early 2024.

Extending this collaboration, AAHL has now awarded Thales an additional contract to deploy at all its airports, the innovative Airport Operation Control Centre (APOC) to optimise overall airport management and enhance passenger experience securely.
The seven airports operated by AAHL are currently equipped with DigiYatra powered by Thales’ Fly to Gate solution built on the responsible use of advanced facial recognition technology as a secure passenger ID proof.

The pre-enrolled passengers can then benefit from a smooth and trusted way to speed up their journey, eliminating the need to show an ID document and the boarding pass at each check point (from check-in to boarding). Reducing passengers processing time up to 30% at these airports, this seamless integration of responsible biometric solutions (cf Thales TrUE Biometrics) aligns with the Indian government’s vision of a digital India.

In addition, Thales has been awarded to work on the design, integration, and implementation of an end-to-end APOC solution for all AAHL-managed airports. This cloud-based ‘Smart Digital Platform’ will centrally host all the necessary applications to improve overall airport management, security, and passenger experience.

The innovative APOC platform collects operational data from integrated airports sub-systems and sensors, while complying with standards of privacy. This data is then intelligently processed using automation, big data analytics, and robust artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The solution which will be deployed soon, will anticipate, and reduce unplanned resource shortages, hence increasing predictability and global efficiency.

“We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Adani Airport Holdings Limited to bring innovative technology solutions to revolutionise airport operations and the passenger experience in India. Our Fly to Gate biometric solution for DigiYatra and the smart Airport Operation Control Centre (APOC) will enable AAHL to streamline operations and also ensure a secure and simplified journey for millions of passengers. Together, we are committed to support India in its vision of becoming the largest aviation market in the world by 2047,” said Ashish Saraf, VP and Country Director for India, Thales.

Adani Airports unveil ‘aviio’ app to improve passenger experience

Adani Airports Holdings Ltd (AAHL) has introduced “aviio,” a digital transformation platform designed to enhance the airport ecosystem in India.

As a first-of-its-kind initiative, aviio aims to foster greater collaboration within the aviation community, improving passenger experience and operational efficiency.

The platform offers real-time data access to airport stakeholders, enabling passengers to receive timely updates on security checks, wait times, gate changes, and baggage status.

An official communique stated that through this innovation, AAHL seeks to redefine airport operations and set new global benchmarks for seamless airport management.

The aviio platform, built to cater to the unique requirements of AAHL’s expansive airport network, is designed to serve its growing portfolio of seven operational airports, with an additional one set to go live by mid-2025. As the backbone of AAHL’s digital transformation, aviio envisions creating a “smart airport operations system” that is scalable, efficient, and easily replicable, termed as an “Airport-in-a-Box.” The advanced features of aviio’s next-generation Airport Planning and Operation Centre (APOC) offer enhanced data-driven decision-making, setting a new standard for airport operations worldwide.

The app, known as AOCC-on-the-go, is accessible not only to AAHL employees but also to airlines, ground handlers, and retail partners. It will facilitate real-time collaboration, allowing each stakeholder to engage with relevant features tailored to their roles. For example, CISF personnel will have smartphones with the app installed to ensure seamless coordination with other entities. Mangaluru International Airport, under the management of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., is poised to become a key transportation hub in Karnataka. As part of Adani’s larger goal to connect India’s major cities via a hub-and-spoke model, the airport is expected to grow into a leading tier-II airport for both passenger and cargo services.

 

Adani Airports CEO foresees remote ATC towers

 

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has begun trials to explore the feasibility of using remote digital towers for airspace management, according to Arun Bansal, CEO, Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL). Speaking at the Capa India Aviation Summit 2024, Bansal mentioned that India’s airports will not have physical air traffic control (ATC) towers within the next 20 years.

An ATC tower is a facility that coordinates and manages the safe takeoff, landing, and ground movement of aircraft. In India, all ATC towers, except those controlled by the defence forces, are handled by the AAI. The CEO of AAHL emphasised that the AAI is a crucial stakeholder and that they share their roadmap with them. He believes that the AAI is also recognising the need for new technologies in the industry.

London City Airport became the first major international airport to be fully controlled by a remote digital tower in 2021, which is located about 115 km away from the runway. Bansal mentioned that Europe is moving away from physical ATC towers and adopting digital solutions. He foresees that in 20 years, there will be no physical ATC towers, and everything will be digital and remote. This shift will also free up land at airports.

Several airports in Sweden and Poland are working towards establishing remote digital towers, and the European Union has issued regulations to standardise and enable the deployment of digital towers. However, physical towers are not being entirely phased out yet, as many airports are expected to adopt a hybrid model that integrates new remote technology with existing tower infrastructure.

Adani Airport Holdings Limited, an Adani Group company, currently manages seven functional airports in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram. It is also building the Navi Mumbai airport, which is expected to start operations by mid-2025.

Adani Airport Holdings raises USD 250 mn for airports development

Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, has announced a successful closure of funding of USD 250 million senior secured three-year ECB facility from consortium of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Barclays Bank PLC.

The facility has an option to raise additional USD 200 million.

The financing structure enables a scalable capital solution with flexibility to tap global capital markets in line with AAHL’s vision of providing a transformational airport infrastructure platform.

AAHL is leading the Adani portfolio’s foray into B2C infrastructure assets. AAHL business is centred around convenience to consumer both via physical and digital channels.

“We are focussed on delivering high quality infrastructure access to our consumers both through physical and digital channels,” said an AAHL spokesperson.

“The first phase of our capital management plan is now set in motion with the funding of AAHL, MIAL and NMIAL, and we will now focus on scaling up the airports business into one of the largest airport platforms globally. We are grateful to our stakeholders and consumers for their continued support and their confidence in us.”

This issuance by AAHL, marks the first milestone in its capital management plan. Earlier this week, MIAL placed USD 750 million private placement to Apollo, and USD 1.74 billion financial closure for NMIAL from the domestic banking system. With this, AAHL has tapped three different pools of capital cumulating to USD 2.74 billion. AAHL is now geared for the next phase of its capital management plan which includes tapping the public capital markets and further construction facilities to enable access to long term capital sources for infrastructure development.

AAHL is an integrated airport network consisting of eight airports located around city centres controlling 50 per cent of top 10 domestic routes, 23 per cent of the total Indian air traffic, and 30 per cent of India’s air cargo.

AAHL airports handle around 200 million consumers, including passengers and non-passengers.