Private Indian airports will maintain a strong credit profile for three years till FY27 on the back of revenue growth, rating agency CRISIL said today.

The airports are expected to spend around ₹60,000 crore in capital expenditure over the next three years to prepare for traffic growth. The projected cape spend will be 12 per cent higher than the spend between 2022-2024.

While 70 per cent of this expenditure will be funded by debt, the credit profile of airports will remain strong as a result of projected 17 per cent revenue growth.

“Revenue growth will be driven by rising passenger traffic, a regulated increase in aeronautical tariffs and an increase in non-aeronautical revenue,” said Ankit Hakhu, Director, CRISIL Ratings.

The rating agency released its findings today Thursday based on a study of eleven private airports that account for 60 per cent of overall passenger traffic in the country.

Adani Group

Adani Group runs seven airports and has one airport under construction in Navi Mumbai. GMR group runs airports in Delhi, Hyderabad and Goa while Fairfax runs the Bengaluru airport. Zurich Airport is developing new greenfield facility in Jewar in Uttar Pradesh.

CRISIL did not disclose a list of surveyed airports.

“The number of passengers at Indian airports is expected to clock a CAGR of 8-9 per cent over fiscals 2025-2027 from 376 million last fiscal. Growth in domestic traffic, which comprises over 80 per cent of overall volume, will ride on rising demand from the business and leisure segments and government push to increase penetration of air travel,” said Manish Gupta, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Ratings officer, CRISIL Ratings.

To cater to this growth, airport operators are investing in aviation related infrastructure such as terminals and runaways. Additionally they are focused on non aeronautical offerings such as lounges, car parking, F&B outlets and so on.