IGI Logo

Credit rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the overall air passenger traffic is likely to touch record highs of 373-380 million in FY2024, translating into a YoY growth of 14-16% over FY2023. This is higher than ICRA’s earlier estimate of 12-14%. Further, it said the upcoming festive and holiday season is likely to drive passenger growth over the next 4-5 months. Therefore, ICRA maintains a ‘Stable’ outlook on the Indian airport infrastructure sector.

According to the report, the top five airports (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin), developed under the PPP (public private partnership) model, account for 50–55% of this passenger traffic. Aeronautical revenue of the major private airports recovered to around 85% of pre-Covid levels in FY2023 on the back of higher passenger and aircraft traffic and are likely to reach 107-110% of pre-Covid levels in FY2024. 

It further said that the recovery of aeronautical revenue is largely in line with broader trends in the passenger traffic recovery. On the other hand, recovery in non-aeronautical revenues is much stronger and is estimated to cross 120% of pre-Covid levels in FY2024, driven by a significant increase in lease rentals with large terminal areas getting added with the completion of expansion at the PPP airports.