Mumbai: With affluent flyers buying food, chocolates, perfumes and duty-free liquor, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd made more incremental income from its non-aeronautical business than from its mainstay of managing air traffic during the first nine months of FY26.
Aero income of the Adani Group company, which is the biggest private airport operator, grew by over a fifth year-on-year to ₹3,495 crore during the first nine months of FY26. Non-aero revenue including from duty-free shopping and food & beverages sales grew by a third to ₹4,743 crore and accounted for half of the company’s total revenue of ₹9,652 crore, according to an investor presentation by parent company Adani Enterprises Ltd.
Aero income includes revenue from aircraft landing fees, parking fees, terminal rentals and user charges levied on passengers. Income from duty-free sales outlets and F&B stores falls into the non-aero category, which also include lease and retail, car parking, passenger services and other items.
Non-aero income outpacing aero revenue is in line with the company’s goals. Adani Airport chief executive officer Arun Bansal said in recent media interviews that the company is targeting 70% of its revenue from non-aero sources by 2030. Non-aero revenue brings greater returns on capital employed than aero income, according to analysts at brokerage JM Financial.
The company will invest ₹20,000 crore in city-side developments to augment its non-aero income, the Economic Times reported on 7 August 2025, quoting Bansal. Almost three-fourths of the investment will be earmarked for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports, he said.
Adani operates eight airports across India—Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Navi Mumbai, which opened in December. The company is expected to be the next to be listed by the Adani Group.
The Adani Group did not respond to Mint’s request for a comment.
GMR Airports
Comparatively, the non-aero income of GMR Airports Ltd, the only listed private airport operator in India and Adani’s closest peer, from operating the Delhi, Hyderabad and North Goa airports was ₹2,147 crore during the first half of FY26. This accounted for 42% of the total income of ₹5,099 crore at these three domestic airports.
Only at Delhi airport did non-aero revenue exceed aero income. GMR also operates airports in Indonesia, Greece and the Philippines. The company is yet to disclose its Q3 earnings.
Analysts at JM Financial noted that surging wealth among affluent Indians has led to significant premiumization in consumption.
“This is reflected in rising international travel (largely driven by metro cities), and also rise in non-aero spends. The rise in non-aero spends is in duty-free and airport retail. We expect this trend to sustain, especially with airports located in metro cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad),” the analysts noted in their 19 December note on GMR Airports.
The analysts argued that while there has been a surge in domestic air traffic, this increase was led by non-metro cities and largely relied on by first-time flyers. This segment does not lead to a rise in non-aero revenue, which gives higher return on capital, due to limited spending power, they noted.
“The metro airports are the ones where we expect a strong rise in non-aero revenue. In particular, we are already witnessing some changes; for instance, compared to arrival only duty-free spends we are witnessing purchases even at departures,” the analysts noted. Spends were also rising from categories beyond liquor such as cosmetics, fragrances and confectionaries, they said.
“We estimate that non-aero sales across the key metro or JV airports can grow at a CAGR of 10% over FY26-28E. This is driven by both higher air passengers and increased spending penetration, especially in metro airports,” they noted.