By Shivansh Tiwary and Nandan Mandayam
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s airports are likely to report strong pre-tax profit growth in the fiscal year ended 2025, a top consultancy said on Friday, as demand for air travel stays robust and the country aims to become a major global aviation hub.
The airport industry’s pre-tax profit will rise to 103.7 billion rupees ($1.24 billion), up about 35% from 76.8 billion rupees a year ago, aviation consultancy CAPA India’s Vice President Paramprit Singh Bakshi said at an industry event in New Delhi.
Operators’ revenue is forecast to grow 14.8% in the current year, helped by steady domestic passenger growth and a quick-paced rebound in international travel.
“All airports have seen very, very robust international recovery, especially from the perspective of post COVID,” Bakshi said.
Indian airport operators have also benefitted as the government has driven investments to develop new terminals and refurbish existing ones.
Most hubs are run by the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) but GMR Airports, which runs the country’s busiest airport in capital New Delhi, the Adani Group and Fairfax India are key private players.
The world’s most populous nation expects to have 350 airports by 2030, up from 144 in 2019, according to an earlier CAPA India estimate and government data.
As airlines like IndiGo and Air India begin to receive jets from their record orders and as newer airports start operations, domestic passenger traffic would hit 600 to 700 million per year, CAPA India said.
($1 = 83.4575 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in New Delhi, Writing by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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