NEW DELHI: GMR Airports Ltd outpaced rival Adani Airports Holdings Ltd in FY26 revenue growth, aided by revised tariffs for international passengers at Delhi airport, widening its lead among India’s private airport operators.
GMR Airports reported 40% revenue growth in FY26, while Adani Airports Holdings Ltd posted 28% growth, as per company disclosures. The differing performance reflects the contrasting expansion and monetisation strategies of India’s two largest private airport operators.
GMR, which operates Delhi, Hyderabad and Mopa airports, also brought forward the opening of its fourth airport at Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh to the July–September quarter from October–December. It is also planning to take over operations of Nagpur airport around the same period.
Adani Airports, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd, operates eight airports, including Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Mangalore.
Delhi boost
GMR Airports reported total revenue of ₹15,200 crore in the year ended March 2026, compared with ₹10,836 crore in the previous year. Adani Airports reported ₹13,081 crore, up from ₹10,224 crore in FY25.
Total revenue or income for GMR Airports includes revenue from operations and other income.
For GMR, growth was driven largely by tariff revisions at Delhi airport, which allowed differentiated user development fees (UDF) for international passengers across travel classes, including economy, premium economy, business and first class.
The tariff change drove a 178% jump in aeronautical revenues at Delhi in FY26. Aero revenues at Hyderabad and Goa were flat or declined.
Delhi International Airport accounted for 50% of GMR Airports’ business, while Hyderabad and Goa together contributed about 20%. The remaining 30% came from other income and its share in joint ventures, associates and subsidiaries.
GMR Airports also swung to profitability, posting a profit before tax of ₹472 crore compared with a ₹816.9 crore loss in FY25. Adani Airports reported a profit of ₹1,427 crore, versus a ₹5 crore loss a year earlier.
Adani Airports does not separately disclose net profit as it is unlisted.
Passenger traffic growth was modest across both operators. GMR Airports handled 114.6 million passengers in FY26, a 1% increase, while Adani Airports recorded 95.3 million passengers, also up 1%.
Across India, passenger traffic stood at 420.9 million in FY26, according to Airports Authority of India (AAI) data. More than one in three air travellers passed through a GMR-operated airport, while roughly one in four used an Adani-run facility.
“We expect to see a 5-6% increase in passenger traffic including the addition of two new airports to our portfolio, Bhogapuram and Nagpur. Bhogapuram is a greenfield airport which we look forward to adding in Q2FY27 and around the same time we will take over Nagpur airport operations,” said Saurabh Chawla, chief financial officer, at GMR Airports, during the post-results investor call on Thursday.
Capex across Bhogapuram, Nagpur and ongoing real estate projects at Delhi is pegged at about ₹1,400 crore for the current fiscal.
“We expect the first quarter to be soft for GMR Airports primarily because of the impact of war in the Middle East (West Asia). Airlines are reducing domestic capacities so there will be an impact of these cancellations on passenger traffic,” said Ankita Shah, vice president at brokerage firm Elara Capital.
“Passenger traffic growth is expected in the later half of the year. In Q2 (FY27), the airport operator will add two airports to its portfolio. So that should add around 4 million passengers and a 2-odd million incremental growth from existing three airports,” she explained.
Shah said GMR Airports has a different portfolio compared with Adani Airports in terms of “profile of the assets” and “stage of lifecycle of the airports”. She noted GMR’s investments in Delhi expansion, while Hyderabad and Mopa are greenfield airports. Adani, she said, has taken over “operating assets” barring Navi Mumbai.
“GMR has and is investing in the three airports, including the next phase of capacity additions. So the cost of recovery of the capex is spread out over a period of time with an impact on the earnings,” Shah added.
