Construction World
05 October 2026
India plans to increase the number of airports from more than 166 currently to 400 by 2047, as demand for air travel continues to grow faster than airline capacity, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said. The government also aims to raise annual passenger numbers from around 240 mn at present to 1.3 bn over the same period.
Naidu said revenue passenger kilometres had increased at a compound annual growth rate of 7.3 per cent over the past decade, while available seat kilometres had risen by 7 per cent. The difference indicates that passenger demand is expanding faster than the number of seats being added by airlines.
India had 74 operational airports in 2014. Naidu said 66 airports were currently under development and another 100 were planned over the next decade...
