The Adani Group is pressing the central government to grant additional international flying rights to airlines, a move aimed at boosting passenger traffic across its rapidly expanding airport portfolio as the conglomerate invests billions of dollars in aviation infrastructure.
Adani Airports Holdings Ltd (AAHL), which operates eight airports across India, has urged the Centre to initiate bilateral negotiations with countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to expand seat entitlements, according to people familiar with the matter. The group believes enhanced international capacity would help Indian airports particularly Mumbai emerge as global aviation hubs.
The request comes at a time when India’s two largest airlines, IndiGo and Tata Group-owned Air India, have advocated a more cautious approach. Air India has warned that opening up skies too quickly could expose domestic carriers to what it terms “unfair competition” from well-capitalised West Asian airlines.
Adani Airports has argued that increased flying rights are essential to unlock the full potential of airport infrastructure, especially as demand for international travel continues to surge. The group began commercial operations at the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) on December 25 and has positioned the facility as a key gateway for international connectivity.
Jeet Adani, director at Adani Airport Holdings, has said the group plans to invest nearly $11.1 billion by 2030 in upgrading terminals, runways, aircraft handling systems and passenger amenities across its airport network.
International flying rights are governed by bilateral air service agreements and are allocated on a reciprocal basis. Since 2014, successive governments led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi have taken a guarded stance on expanding such rights, particularly for West Asian carriers, citing the need to protect Indian airlines and develop domestic transit hubs on the lines of Dubai and Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Under India’s National Civil Aviation Policy of 2016, additional international flying rights are typically considered only after Indian carriers have utilised at least 80% of their existing entitlements. However, with strong traffic growth and limited capacity additions, airfares on several international routes have risen sharply. Notably, seat capacity on the Dubai route has not been expanded since 2014.
Despite demand from both Indian airlines and foreign carriers such as Emirates and Flydubai, the government has yet to approve a significant increase in entitlements.
Meanwhile, early traffic trends at NMIA indicate strong demand. The Adani Group-owned airport handled 26,021 passengers in the first five days of commercial operations, including 12,431 arrivals and 13,590 departures. Passenger traffic peaked over the weekend, with more than 5,500 travellers recorded on both Saturday and Sunday. The airport also reported 162 scheduled air traffic movements during the same period.
As India’s aviation market continues to grow, the debate over flying rights is expected to intensify, balancing the interests of domestic airlines with the ambition to transform Indian airports into major global transit hubs.
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