India’s alternate airports, designed to ease congestion at major metro hubs, are projected to collectively accommodate about 40 million passengers per year by the end of 2026. These airports are anticipated to play a crucial role in meeting the increasing air travel demand, especially as existing metro airports are nearing their full capacity limits, as per a report by Crisil Ratings.
Over the next four financial years, the expansion of these alternate airports is expected to boost their overall capacity, enabling them to cater to 45-50 million passengers annually by fiscal 2030. This growth is driven by pent-up demand resulting from congestion at current airports and the expanding catchment areas due to improved connectivity.
The report emphasizes the importance of a timely increase in operations to ensure financial stability. Crisil’s analysis focuses on operational and upcoming alternate airports situated in regions like the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), and Goa, where older airports are already operating near their maximum capacity.
Ankit Hakhu, Director at Crisil Ratings, predicts that by fiscal 2030, alternate airports in metro cities are likely to handle 20-25% of the total regional air traffic. He stresses the significance of enhancing both aeronautical and non-aeronautical revenues during the initial control period for these new airports.
The report highlights that while the older Mumbai airport faced growth challenges post-fiscal 2017 due to capacity constraints, Delhi’s airport continued to expand. However, without the development of a second airport in the region, Delhi would have encountered similar hurdles in the medium term. On the other hand, airports in Bengaluru and Hyderabad still have room for growth, operating at around 65% of their design capacity last fiscal year.
Looking ahead, India’s total airport passenger traffic is expected to rise from approximately 415 million this fiscal year to nearly 580 million by fiscal 2030, indicating a compound annual growth rate of 8-9%. This growth will be fueled by robust economic activity, unmet demand for air travel, and the alleviation of capacity constraints at major airports.
Gauri Gupta, Team Leader at Crisil Ratings, pointed out that alternate airports also face certain risks.
