According to a statement released by The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Frost and Sullivan research, the airport lounges in India will increase to 70-90 by 2025, to 150-160 by 2030 and 193 by 2040. The Ministry has quoted FICCI data for the estimates. The Ministry expects eight, 16 and 31 cities in India to have more than two airports by 2025, 2030 and 2040, respectively. Passenger numbers are likely to rise to 29.3 crores, 56.7 crores and 111.4 crores, respectively, in the same time span.
Aviation revenues are also expected to grow to $16.9 billion, $20.8 billion and $28.6 billion by the same years. India will have 295 operational airports by 2040. Airport services will also register a high growth from ₹1,304.97 crores in FY17 to ₹1,842.5 crores in FY19, as studied by Frost and Sullivan.
Revenue Sources
Many airport lounge services providers such as DreamFolks Services are raising funds to compensate for the loss incurred during the pandemic through IPO. The share of non-aeronautical revenues for private airports such as Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai varied 50-70% of their overall revenue in FY19. The non-aeronautical revenues from AAI-managed airports were about 10%-15% for FY19. The study pointed out that the passengers are willing to spend more for services, which will benefit the lounge market. However, only 8% of travellers can access a lounge using the facility currently, which shows a low penetration rate.
India had seven airports that handled more than 10 million passengers by 2018. By 2040, there will be 47 airports in the country. The Indian government has also set aside over one lakh crores to build new airports across the country.
According to the report, the aviation sector contributes about 3.5% of India’s GDP. This accounts for roughly 10% of the population travels by airline. At the end of the calendar year 2021, the number of credit and debit cards having lounge access in India was anticipated to be around 57.20 million. The percentage of travellers who pay for lounge access using a credit or debit card is about 8%, and this number is likely to rise.
[With inputs from The Hindu]
