Overview
- Management and development rights for Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport were formally transferred from MIHAN India Limited to GMR Group under a 30‑year public‑private partnership, with a ceremonial handover attended by senior state and union ministers.
- GMR has outlined a three‑phase plan that begins with terminal renovations to be visible to passengers within about a year, moves to a new integrated terminal by 2029, and ends with a new 3,800m runway and ATC tower under a masterplan aimed at full completion around 2034.
- The company expects to raise annual passenger capacity first to roughly 3.0 million and later to about 5.0 million while adding a dedicated cargo terminal with a target handling capacity of 20,000 metric tonnes.
- State and central officials pledged land, metro and road access and regulatory backing, and the union civil aviation minister said the Centre will prioritise new direct international links to hubs such as Dubai and Singapore and to markets in Europe and the United States.
- Officials said clearing of prior legal and government approvals now allows work to begin, and the upgrade is pitched as a tool to draw maintenance, defence manufacturing, agriculture and tourism investment and to create local jobs and logistics activity.