Beyond the Runway: India's Ambitious Airport Privatization Strategy

The government is preparing to launch the next phase of airport privatization in 2025, with plans to lease out a new group of Airports Authority of India (AAI)-managed airports to private operators under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has selected five major airports – Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, and Trichy – and paired them with six smaller airports, including Kushinagar and Kangra, for bundled bidding. This approach of combining high-traffic airports with smaller ones is aimed at attracting more private investment while fostering growth in underserved regions.

In the previous round of privatization, six airports – Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangalore, Jaipur, Guwahati, and Thiruvananthapuram – were handed over to Adani Enterprises. The company secured 50-year operational rights based on a per-passenger fee model, a departure from the previous 30-year, revenue-sharing lease structure. Currently, 11 airports in India are privately managed, including major hubs like Delhi and Mumbai, which together account for nearly 50% of the country’s passenger traffic. The government’s long-term goal is to increase the number of operational airports in India to 350 by 2047, up from the current 159.

In addition, major cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru are exploring the possibility of second airports, following the anticipated openings of Navi Mumbai International Airport and Noida International Airport, both expected to be operational by mid-2025