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Delhi Airport defies aviation headwinds as passenger traffic grows 3% in Q2 FY27 and non-aero revenue surges over 20%, offsetting airline capacity cuts and airspace disruptions
GMR Airports declares its Q2-FY27 and H1-FY27 results on October 28, 2027. The group reported a modest profit of Rs 65 crore in Q2-FY27 and a profit of Rs 213 crore in H1-FY27. This was driven by the profit at Delhi and Hyderabad airports, which saw a profit of Rs 121 crores and INR 90 crores, respectively, in Q2-FY27.
The aviation industry has been turbulent since April 2025, starting with the deadly attack at Pahalgam on innocent tourists, followed by Operation Sindoor, the crash of AI 171, airspace closures and then the West Asia conflict beginning the end of February this year. Despite all the challenges, including Delhi’s hub carrier Air India shrinking capacity after record losses, Delhi continues to grow, adding more services and destinations, along with adding passengers, even as the country sees lower passenger numbers for consecutive months.
As GMR expands its portfolio in India to Nagpur as well as the newly operational airport at Bhogapuram, Vizag, Delhi remains the jewel in the crown for the group and for a valid reason. The largest airport in the country has recorded more traffic than ever in a year when air traffic in India is under pressure as costs have ballooned for more than one reason.
Delhi remains evergreen
Delhi handled 18,104,765 passengers in Q2-FY27, a growth of 3 per cent, while H1-FY27 traffic grew 5 per cent, recording 38,502,558 passengers. This is the highest passenger count handled by Delhi in the first half of any year until now. Delhi is now connected to 90 domestic and 70 international destinations, the highest for any airport in India. If there is one area which saw remarkable growth, it was the non-aero revenue at Delhi, which grew over 20 per cent. The growth has come at a time when Air India pulled out capacity from Delhi for the off-peak season and IndiGo also shrunk on both domestic and international routes. The decreased capacity did not have an impact on either the passenger numbers or profitability of the airport.
More from BusinessDelhi Airports revenue was powered by non-aero revenue crossing the INR 2000 crore mark in H1-FY27, with retail leading the path, comprising one-fourth of the total revenue. Advertisement grew the most at 29 per cent, followed by Cargo, which grew at 15 per cent. Unlike Hyderabad or Goa-Mopa, the other GMR-operated airports in India, Delhi, see non-aero revenue being more than the aero revenue.
The positive impact of Delhi Airports’ performance is also felt on other companies part of the GMR umbrella, with Delhi Duty Free recording a profit before tax of 82.2 crore rupees in Q2-FY27. No wonder then that the airport focused on converting Pier C at Terminal 3 to international from domestic, which gives it ability to expand operations and make the most of additional non-aero revenue coming from advertising, duty free and cargo.
Delhi Airport added more frequencies from British Airways, Swiss and flights from new carriers like Centrum Air in the recent past as Indian carriers kept away from flights to Central Asia and had to take a long detour to Europe to cater to the Pakistani airspace closure for Indian carriers. The western carriers benefitted from the Middle Eastern crisis, leading to people opting for different hubs by avoiding the Gulf hubs as the West Asia war expanded to the region. Clearly, there is no market as good as Delhi in India.
Tail Note
If Delhi airport maintains the current momentum, it could surpass the 79.2 million passengers it recorded in FY25, the highest ever to date. The airport saw a dip last year as it spent the better part of the year upgrading its runway, impacting capacity, while operations stabilised across the three terminals. SpiceJet’s decrease in operations also had a minor impact on the numbers at Delhi since Delhi is the largest hub for SpiceJet.
The western carriers were able to add flights to Delhi since the flight route avoided the West Asia conflict, allowing the airlines to overfly Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan before entering the Indian airspace. Flights to Mumbai or Bengaluru would see the airlines having to fly closer to the airspace with the West Asia conflict, which has expanded beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
