BS Infra Summit: CEOs flag key steps for India's airport hub ambitions

At the BS Infrastructure Summit, CEOs of Delhi and Noida airports said India's hub ambitions require smoother transfers, stronger bilateral agreements and collaborative industry efforts

Indian airports’ push to become global hubs will depend on reducing passenger leakage to rival airports abroad, scaling up direct long-haul connectivity, and offering transfer experiences that are faster, smoother, and more attractive than those of regional competitors, said panellists at the Business Standard Infrastructure Summit on Thursday.

 

For India, the ambition to establish airports as global hubs — on the lines of Dubai or Singapore — is no longer a distant aspiration but an urgent necessity.

 

Delhi International Airport Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Videh Kumar Jaipuriar highlighted how India’s inherent strengths are already yielding results. “In 2019, possibly only 17-18 per cent of people travelling to Europe or North America were taking direct flights from India. That number has now improved quite dramatically. Now, close to 40–45 per cent of passengers are going directly to Europe from Delhi airport,” he said in a panel discussion with Deepak Patel of Business Standard.

 

 

For Delhi airport, Jaipuriar said, the first priority has been to win over Indian travellers who might otherwise connect through Gulf or Southeast Asian hubs. “Our initial aim is to become the airport of choice for the Indian traveller. We have seen leakage to nearby hubs, which feed on Indian passengers more than on any other market,” he said.

 

The ability to reverse that trend lies with government action, particularly bilateral air service agreements, which determine how many flights each country’s airlines can operate to the other’s territory, and their structure can either favour or disadvantage Indian carriers. 

 

“We have been working with the government on policy changes. Air service agreements are one such area the government has been looking at critically. Because the air service agreements should be in a manner that supports Indian carriers. Indian airports are there to support by providing infrastructure,” Jaipuriar said.

 

Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways have been asking India to expand bilateral flying rights. The UAE has been urging India to revise the 2014 agreement that caps seat entitlements at 66,504 per week for each side. Emirates, having already exhausted its allocation, has repeatedly expressed frustration at being unable to add more flights.

 

India, however, has resisted such demands, since West Asian hubs like Dubai and Doha primarily channel Indian passengers onward to Europe and North America. Meanwhile, Indian carriers are steadily inducting wide-body aircraft and scaling up non-stop operations to long-haul destinations, positioning themselves to capture a larger share of outbound traffic.

 

Jaipuriar acknowledged how thinking within India has shifted. “Three to four years ago, we probably did not have aspirations to become a hub for Indian airlines. We now have two strong airlines (Air India and IndiGo). So it is very important,” he observed.

 

He stressed that along with route expansion and policy support, the passenger experience will be decisive in hub creation. “On security procedures, the government is already working to make transfers smoother (for those who use Delhi airport as a transit point). For passengers in transit, airports need to provide infrastructure that makes their stay more comfortable. We are looking at global brands and new facilities to ensure a more convenient experience at Delhi airport. These are some of the things that the government, airlines, and airports need to work on to make a hub,” he said.

 

Noida International Airport CEO Christoph Schnellmann stressed that the battle for hub status cannot be fought in silos. “If we want to succeed in India with hubs, we cannot do so as individual airports, airlines, or policymakers. We must act as one industry,” he said.

 

Noida International Airport, being developed by Zurich Airport International AG, is expected to begin operations soon.

 

He argued that India’s competitive advantage lies in designing world-class transfer experiences.

 

“To win, our ‘transfer product’ needs to be better in some important and meaningful way, and better will not mean the same thing for each and every passenger. Better may mean quicker, easier, cheaper, or more luxurious (for premium travellers). But I think if we want to succeed as a hub, we do so by finding a way to work together to define these ‘transfer products’, to make them superior to some of the alternatives (airports),” he explained.

 

 Like Jaipuriar, Schnellmann pointed to India’s vast and expanding travel market as the foundation of global hub ambitions. “We need to build on the natural strengths that we have -- a very large domestic market that is willing to travel and wants to travel abroad. I think that's the way forward,” he said.

 

India’s airports are also gaining confidence from record aircraft orders by domestic carriers, which are preparing to meet soaring demand. Since 2023, airlines have placed some of the largest orders in aviation history. Air India Group ordered 470 aircraft in February 2023 —250 from Airbus and 220 from Boeing. IndiGo followed in June 2023 with the world’s largest-ever single order of 500 Airbus A320neo family planes. In January 2024, Akasa Air ordered 150 Boeing 737 Max jets, while IndiGo added 30 Airbus A350s in April. Air India expanded its order book further in December 2024 with 10 A350s and 90 A320 family aircraft. In June 2025, IndiGo ordered 30 more A350s to strengthen its long-haul network for the next decade.