India will spend about $12bn over the next two years on airports to meet the resurgent travel demand. India aims to boost the number of airports to 220 by 2025 from the current 148. As for the airport infrastructure investment, private players will invest about $9bn while the remaining $3bn will come from the state-run Airports Authority of India.
The new infrastructure includes greenfield projects, new terminals and the renovation of existing facilities, including former military airfields left over from colonial times.
Boeing forecasts India’s passenger traffic will grow at a rate of nearly 7% annually, compared with 4.9% in China from 2022 through 2041.
According to data from Cirium, India currently has over 1,400 aircraft on order, almost twice as much as China, and to meet this demand, India plans to double its airports strength to 450 by 2023.
China currently operates a significantly larger fleet than India.
Major airport developments in India include Adani Group’s 2,866-acre airport in Navi Mumbai that will handle 90 million passengers by 2036. New Delhi will also see a new facility with a final capacity of 70 million travelers and it’s being developed by Zurich Airport International AG. Other greenfield airports will come up in the states of Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.