AAI flying high, may record FY16 revenue of Rs 10,000 cr

National airports operator AAI is expected to report an all-time high revenue of Rs 10,000 crore, with an estimated flat profit growth in the fiscal ended March 31 this year. The estimated eight per cent growth in the topline which stood at Rs 9,285 crore in 2014-15, is driven by the surge in passenger traffic as well as aircraft movement, particularly from Ahmedabad and Leh airports, a senior AAI official said.

The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) was accorded ‘Miniratna’ status in 2008, granting it the right to exercise its powers of autonomy in terms of investment in projects and forming joint ventures. Of the 125 AAI airports, currently 95 are operational, with 70 of them having scheduled flights.

“While the accounts are still being finalised, we estimate the revenue to touch an all-time high of Rs 10,000 crore in the last fiscal. The net profit during this period is also estimated at Rs 2,000 crore,” the AAI official said.

The public sector firm had posted a net profit of Rs 1,959 crore in the April-March fiscal of 2014-15. Attributing the estimated eight per cent jump in topline to the surge in both passenger traffic and aircraft movement across airports, the official said, “Ahmedabad and Leh airports in particular fuelled this growth.” 

“Growth in February was much more than our expectations where March numbers are being culled out,” the official said. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), India’s domestic air passenger traffic grew by a whopping 20.2 per cent in 2015 over the previous year, aided by higher economic growth and increase in number of flights across domestic airlines network.

Industry estimates suggest that passenger traffic at Indian airports is expected to grow to 421 million from 190.1 million in 2015. The growth in domestic air traffic was over three-folds of the global average of 6.3 per cent.

Of the total 475 airports or airstrips in the country, 125 are owned and managed by AAI and the draft civil aviation policy, expected to be finalised soon, envisages revival of un-served and under-served airstrips by AAI, state governments or through PPP mode depending on feasibility.

“The growth in revenue has come despite the combined share from Mumbai and Delhi airports remaining flat at around Rs 2,500 crore in the last two fiscals,” the official added. The GMR and GVK -run Delhi and Mumbai airports, in which AAI owns 26 per cent stake, account for almost 60 per cent of the AAI’s total revenue.