Indian airport operators are expected to experience a revenue growth of 15-17 per cent in FY2025 according to ICRA. The healthy growth in both the domestic and international segments will drive the overall passenger traffic to a record high of 407-418 million in FY2025.
ICRA forecasts a healthy growth of around 8-11 per cent year-over-year in the overall air passenger traffic in FY2025, supported by a strong increase in both leisure and business travel, improved connectivity to newer destinations in the domestic segment, and a continued uptick in international travel.
In FY2024, passenger traffic had already reached 376.4 million, showing a year-over-year increase of 15 per cent, surpassing the pre-Covid level by 10 per cent. The revenues of ICRA’s sample set, which includes Airports Authority of India, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Cochin International airports, as well as 2 Middle East countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman), are expected to grow by around 15-17 per cent year-over-year in FY2025.
Giving more insights, Vinay Kumar G, Vice President & Sector Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said, “The recovery in the Indian airport passenger traffic is one of the best compared to other major global counterparts. In CY2023, India accounted for 4.2 per cent of the global passenger traffic, with its share in passenger traffic having improved from 3.8 per cent in CY2019.”In CY2023, global passenger traffic recovered to only 96 per cent of the pre-Covid level, whereas Indian airport passenger traffic rebounded to 106 per cent of the pre-Covid level due to strong economic growth and the addition of new airport routes. It is expected that Indian air passenger traffic will outperform the global trend.
