MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, December 4, 2025 — The Adani Group is preparing one of the largest private bets on India’s aviation infrastructure, planning to invest about ₹1.35 lakh crore (roughly US$15 billion) over the next five years to boost annual passenger capacity at its airports to 200 million by 2030. [1]
The expansion plan, first reported by Bloomberg and since carried by multiple outlets including Reuters, Moneycontrol, The Telegraph, ETInfra and IBEF, centres on a mix of new terminals, taxiways and a fresh runway at Navi Mumbai International Airport, alongside major upgrades at six other airports controlled by Adani Airport Holdings. [2]
The fresh details published today by The Telegraph confirm the scale and timing of the project and anchor it firmly in the current news cycle of December 4, 2025. [3]
What Adani’s ₹1.35 lakh crore airport plan includes
According to coverage based on people familiar with the plans, Adani will deploy around ₹1.35 lakh crore over five years across its airport portfolio, translating to an investment of roughly US$15 billion at current exchange-rate assumptions. [4]
The core objective is to:
- Lift total passenger‑handling capacity at Adani-operated airports to about 200 million travellers a year by 2030, from an estimated 120 million at present. [5]
- Increase overall capacity by more than 60%, not counting the initial capacities of Navi Mumbai and Guwahati, which will themselves add substantial fresh throughput once fully operational. [6]
Internal estimates cited in ETInfra and Indian media break down the planned capacity additions at key airports roughly as follows: [7]
- Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) – about 30 million additional passengers per year once the full build-out linked to this plan is realised.
- Ahmedabad – an increase of around 16 million passengers annually.
- Jaipur – an additional capacity of about 14 million passengers per year.
- Thiruvananthapuram – around 8 million extra passengers annually.
- Lucknow – roughly 6 million more passengers per year.
- Guwahati – a sizeable boost, with an eventual 11 million passengers a year capacity, part of which is set to be commissioned this month. [8]
The focus is clearly on scaling a network of tier‑1 and tier‑2 city airports that Adani took over during the second wave of India’s airport privatisation in 2020, in addition to the Mumbai system anchored by the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA). [9]
Navi Mumbai: the flagship of Adani’s airport expansion
At the heart of the investment is Navi Mumbai International Airport, the long‑delayed second airport for the Mumbai metropolitan region.
Bloomberg’s report, echoed in Indian and international outlets, says the Adani plan includes: [10]
- Construction of new terminals
- Additional taxiways to ease congestion and cut turnaround times
- A new runway at NMIA to support a dual‑runway operating model over time
The airport is scheduled to open for commercial operations on December 25, 2025, making Mumbai the first Indian city to operate two major commercial airports in parallel. [11]
Phase‑1 of Navi Mumbai is designed to handle about 20 million passengers annually, with operations initially limited to daytime hours before ramping up to 24×7 in early 2026. [12] As gradual expansion kicks in, Adani’s broader ₹1.35 lakh crore programme will link subsequent phases of NMIA to its national capacity target of 200 million passengers a year. [13]
How the US$15 billion will be funded
Across multiple reports summarising the same set of internal projections, the funding blueprint appears consistent: [14]
- Around 70% of the capex is expected to be funded via debt, raised over roughly a five‑year period.
- The remaining 30% will come from equity, likely a mix of internal accruals, group‑level fundraising and, in time, capital raised directly by the airports unit.
This airport push sits inside a much larger Adani capex pipeline. In a recent briefing, the group’s CFO indicated Adani plans to raise about ₹900 billion (just over US$10 billion) of debt in FY27 alone to support a targeted ₹1.5 trillion capex that year. [15]
Taken together, the numbers underline two things:
- Adani is comfortable using leverage to fund long‑gestation infrastructure, betting that regulated tariffs and non‑aeronautical revenues (retail, F&B, real estate, cargo and advertising) will support repayments over time.
- The airports platform is being groomed for a public listing, with multiple outlets reporting that Adani aims to float its airport business — Adani Airport Holdings — around 2027, once the current round of expansion is more visible to investors. [16]
Riding India’s aviation boom
Adani’s plan is calibrated to the growth trajectory of India’s civil aviation market rather than current traffic numbers.
Forecasts cited in Bloomberg‑based coverage and summarised by IBEF and ETInfra suggest that: [17]
- India’s annual air passenger traffic is expected to more than double to about 300 million travellers by 2030.
- By building capacity for around 200 million passengers a year, Adani’s airports could theoretically handle roughly two‑thirds of the country’s projected traffic if utilised fully.
That doesn’t mean Adani will actually carry two‑thirds of all passengers — traffic will continue to be spread across airports operated by GMR (Delhi, Hyderabad and others), state‑run authorities and new private players. But in terms of installed capacity, the group is positioning itself as a central pillar of India’s aviation story.
The timing is also significant:
- Domestic aviation in India has rebounded sharply from the pandemic.
- Airline consolidation (with Air India and Vistara combining, and IndiGo still dominant) is reshaping route networks.
- Government policy — from the UDAN regional connectivity scheme to incentives for aircraft leasing and MRO — aims to push more Indians into the air. [18]
Against this backdrop, a multi‑billion‑dollar, multi‑airport expansion allows Adani to lock in capacity ahead of demand, rather than playing catch‑up.
Airport privatisation, policy tailwinds and the GMR–Adani rivalry
The expansion is also inseparable from India’s broader airport privatisation and infrastructure agenda.
According to ETInfra, Moneycontrol and IBEF summaries of the underlying Bloomberg report: [19]
- The six airports undergoing major upgrades — Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Lucknow, Guwahati and the upcoming Navi Mumbai — were leased to Adani during the second round of privatisation in 2020 from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
- India began privatising major airports in 2006, when GMR and GVK took control of the Delhi and Mumbai hubs; Adani later bought out GVK’s stake in Mumbai, consolidating its presence in the country’s busiest aviation market.
- The central government now plans to privatise 11 additional airports, bundling weaker, loss‑making facilities with stronger ones to attract bidders.
- India is building a second airport for Delhi and is targeting an expansion of its airport network from about 160 today to 400 by 2047, reflecting the long‑term bet on air travel.
In this context, Adani Airport Holdings and GMR Airports are repeatedly cited as the two leading contenders for new concessions: Adani by number of airports operated, GMR by passenger traffic. [20]
The ₹1.35 lakh crore expansion thus doubles as a strategic signalling exercise: it tells regulators and investors that Adani is prepared to deploy large amounts of capital quickly, while also demonstrating operating capability at complex brownfield and greenfield sites.
What the expansion means for passengers
For travellers, the headline number — 200 million passengers of annual capacity — will translate into a set of more tangible changes over the coming years:
- Less congestion at major Adani‑run airports
- Expanded terminals and more gates should reduce check‑in and security bottlenecks at busy hubs such as Ahmedabad and Lucknow. [21]
- More routes and frequencies from Navi Mumbai and Guwahati
- The new capacity is likely to attract airlines looking for slots that are scarce at existing airports, particularly in Mumbai’s saturated airspace. [22]
- Upgraded passenger amenities
- Although details vary by airport, large Indian private airports typically bundle expansion with better lounges, retail, F&B and digital services — a pattern Adani is expected to follow to boost non‑aero revenue.
Over time, if increased capacity eases operational constraints at key metros, airfares on certain routes could become more competitive, though pricing will ultimately depend on airline strategy, fuel costs and demand rather than airport infrastructure alone.
Implications for investors and Adani’s balance sheet
For equity and debt investors watching the Adani group post‑Hindenburg, the airport expansion is both an opportunity and a risk signal.
Upside factors:
- Airports are long‑duration, cash‑generating assets with high entry barriers and relatively predictable demand in a fast‑growing market.
- A successful ramp‑up at Navi Mumbai and other airports should strengthen the case for an IPO of Adani Airport Holdings, potentially unlocking value separate from the group’s energy and ports businesses. [23]
Risk factors:
- The heavy reliance on debt (around 70% of the project cost) leaves the airport business sensitive to interest rates, refinancing conditions and any future downturn in traffic. [24]
- The group’s broader funding needs — including other infrastructure, energy and industrial projects — mean lenders and rating agencies will closely track leverage and cash flow at the consolidated level, not just within the airports vertical. [25]
How these pieces come together will become clearer as more financing transactions are announced and as Adani discloses airport‑specific performance metrics ahead of any potential listing.
Key questions to watch after today’s announcements
As of December 4, 2025, the broad contours of Adani’s aviation bet are visible, but several key questions remain:
- Execution timelines
- Will all the planned terminal and runway expansions be completed on schedule, particularly in land‑constrained cities?
- Regulatory treatment and tariffs
- How will future tariff orders balance passenger interests with the need to ensure bankable returns on the ₹1.35 lakh crore investment?
- Competitive dynamics with GMR and others
- Could aggressive bidding for upcoming airport concessions compress returns industry‑wide?
- IPO structure and valuation
- When Adani Airport Holdings eventually lists, will it bundle all airports together or structure separate special‑purpose vehicles to reflect differing risk and return profiles?
For now, what is clear from today’s coverage is that Adani is betting big on airports as a core long‑term growth engine, using Navi Mumbai’s long‑awaited launch as the springboard for a five‑year, multi‑billion‑dollar transformation of its aviation portfolio. [26]
References
1. www.reuters.com, 2. www.reuters.com, 3. www.telegraphindia.com, 4. www.telegraphindia.com, 5. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 6. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 7. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 8. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 9. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 12. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 13. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 14. www.telegraphindia.com, 15. www.reuters.com, 16. www.reuters.com, 17. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 18. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 19. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 20. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 21. infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, 22. timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 23. www.reuters.com, 24. www.telegraphindia.com, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. www.telegraphindia.com
