Adani Airports Targets Single-Digit Regulated Revenue Through Non-Aero and City-Side Expansion

Adani Airports is looking beyond the runway for a larger share of its future business.

The airport operator wants to expand commercial activities around its airports to such an extent that regulated revenue eventually accounts for only a small part of its overall business. The plan centres on growing non-aeronautical revenue and developing city-side assets, while bringing regulatory charges paid by passengers down to what the company describes as the bare minimum.

Adani Airports Holding Ltd (AAHL) CEO Arun Bansal outlined the strategy during the 13th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2026, saying the company wants its regulated revenue profile to move towards single digits over time.

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Looking beyond aeronautical revenue

Airports traditionally earn aeronautical revenue through charges linked directly to the use of airport and terminal infrastructure by airlines and passengers.

But that is only one part of the business Adani Airports wants to build.

The other side includes commercial activities such as retail, leasing and services, along with development of land and assets around airports. Growing these businesses would give AAHL a larger revenue base outside regulated airport charges.

Bansal said regulated operations currently represent only part of the overall airport business and set out a longer-term ambition in which sufficiently large non-aeronautical and city-side operations could bring the regulated revenue base close to zero.

For now, the more immediate ambition disclosed by the company is to bring the regulated revenue profile to almost single digits over time. No specific deadline for reaching that level was provided.

Lower passenger charges form part of the strategy

The shift in revenue mix is also tied to what passengers pay.

Bansal said AAHL wants to bring regulatory charges for passengers down to the bare minimum. Expanding revenue generated outside core aeronautical operations is central to that approach.

The strategy effectively seeks to make commercial and city-side businesses a much larger part of the economics of running an airport, rather than relying predominantly on regulated charges.

However, the disclosures did not provide projections for how the shift would affect AAHL’s profitability or specify the financial contribution expected from individual non-aeronautical businesses.

Navi Mumbai airport has a larger role in the expansion

The revenue strategy comes as Adani Airports also works on expanding airport capacity.

Bansal said Navi Mumbai International Airport has been planned and built with the ambition of eventually becoming an international hub. That possibility, however, depends partly on Indian airlines developing sufficient long-haul connectivity, including direct services to Europe and the US.

He pointed to the aircraft order books of IndiGo and Air India, saying the two carriers have 1,800 aircraft on order. Once those deliveries come through by 2032, India could have greater potential to develop as an international aviation hub.

AAHL’s role, he said, is to ensure that the necessary airport infrastructure is available when airlines are ready to expand those networks.

Capacity expansion remains a major task

The scale of AAHL’s plans goes well beyond changing its revenue mix.

Bansal said the company needs to expand passenger-handling capacity in India from 100 million to 500 million over the next decade. He also ruled out an immediate move by the group into the airline business, saying his focus remains on airport development in India and overseas.

Changes are also coming to Mumbai airport.

Adani Group-operated Mumbai airport had informed the civil aviation ministry that part of Terminal 1 would begin to be demolished from January 15, 2027. Traffic is being redistributed between Terminal 2 and Navi Mumbai airport ahead of the redevelopment.

Bansal said around five million passengers of capacity currently handled by T1 would have to be accommodated elsewhere as work progresses. He added that airlines cannot be forced to move between airports and would make their own decisions on where to operate.

Revenue diversification takes centre stage

Adani Airports’ plans bring together two parts of its strategy: adding airport capacity and finding more ways to generate revenue from the passengers and commercial activity that capacity brings.

The direction is clear, but the financial outcome is not yet quantified. AAHL has not disclosed a timeline for reaching a single-digit regulated revenue share or detailed how much individual city-side and non-aeronautical businesses would contribute.

For now, the company’s stated ambition is to make those businesses large enough to reduce its dependence on regulated airport revenue while it simultaneously prepares its airport network for a much larger passenger base.