Non-aero revenue powers Delhi airport to profits

The capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport reported profits in the last year, swinging from losses in the year before. GMR Airports declared its Q4 and full-year FY26 results, which showed Delhi airport reporting a profit of ₹476.9 crore for the last financial year. The airport had reported a loss of ₹976.2 crore in the previous year.

The star of the income was non-aero revenue, which stood at ₹3,607 crore, an increase of 9% over the previous year. A staggering 81% of net income has come from non-aero revenue. This increase was driven by the retail segment, which accounted for 27% of the non-aero revenue for Delhi airport and grew by 9% over the previous year. Delhi airport also saw a marginal increase in spend per passenger to ₹1,063 in FY26, compared to ₹1,010 in FY25. Space rentals, cargo and food & beverage segments were the other drivers of revenue for the GMR Group-led airport, reinforcing the “mall in an airport” concept. The fastest-growing segment was food & beverages with a growth of 18% year on year, ending the year with a revenue of ₹390 crore.

The non-aero revenue comprises rentals, retail, food & beverage, duty-free shops, advertising and car parks. The aero revenue typically comprises airline terminal space rentals, airline landing fees, and usage fees for terminals, gates, services, and the User Development Fee.

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The results have led to a significant boost to the numbers of GMR Airports, which recorded a profit of ₹472 crore, a significant change from the loss of ₹816 crore that it reported in FY25. The group runs Delhi, Hyderabad, and Goa-Mopa as major airports in India, took over Nagpur airport after a long legal battle, and will operationalise Bhogapuram airport in the coming months, apart from investments in Crete, Greece and Medan, Indonesia.

The big numbers

The headwinds for Indian aviation since April 2025 meant that Delhi airport saw a 1% drop in air traffic. The drop in passengers has not resulted in a lowering of revenues for the airport. AERA (Airports Economic Regulatory Authority ) revised the charges for DIAL (Delhi International Airport Limited), which has helped the entity swing from loss to profit. In the last financial year, the aero revenue stood at ₹1,152 crore, which increased to ₹3,011 crore at Delhi airport.

Delhi airport, as part of the concession agreement, has an agreement to share 45.99% of revenue as a concession fee with the state-owned Airports Authority of India. The higher revenues also help AAI gain, which is then deployed to develop smaller airports or operationalise airports hitherto not in use. The later phase of privatisation, conducted just before the onset of COVID-19, saw the model shift to a per-passenger amount to be shared.

Airport as a mall with more to come

Pushing up non-aero revenue is a standard practice with airports worldwide, which are large, capital-intensive projects. The airport developer looks at the non-aero business, city-side development and long-term concessions as sources of revenue to recover its development cost. Globally, non-aero revenue stands around 40% as per the ACI Airport Economics report released pre-pandemic.

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Delhi has a much higher share of non-aero revenue as compared to the aero revenue. Singapore’s Changi airport has roughly 55% of its revenue coming from non-aero sources. This will only go up with the expansion of Aerocity and additional hotels. The CPD (Commercial Property Development) rentals will thus go up, which stood at ₹949 crore in the last financial year. The airport will also benefit from the conversion of one pier from domestic to international at Terminal 3. This will allow for more international flights, which has a direct economic impact on both aero and non-aero revenue.

Tail note

Delhi airport continues to be a jewel in the crown for GMR Airports Ltd, as it pursues more opportunities worldwide for investments to hedge the market dynamics and dependency on just one airport and country. Delhi’s growth will be dependent on the growth of IndiGo and Air India, both impacted by the Pakistani airspace closure. The addition of complexities by the West Asia war has led to Air India scaling down its operations to pre-COVID levels to North America and this would have a direct impact on the transit passengers, another lucrative area for non-aero revenue.

The author, Ameya Joshi, is an aviation analyst.