India's civil aviation, ports, and shipping sectors are set for sharp expansion by the financial year 2031, driven by rising demand, infrastructure creation and policy support, the Economic Survey has said, while underlining the urgent need for capacity addition to keep pace with traffic growth.
The Economic Survey 2025-26, tabled in Parliament on Thursday, projects passenger traffic at Indian airports to surge from 412 million in 2024-25 to 665 million by 2030-31. It said civil aviation in India is "on a sustained growth trajectory, supported by a conducive policy environment, rising demand and steady infrastructure expansion."
Despite the rapid growth, the survey highlighted a significant infrastructure gap. India currently operates just 0.11 airports per million people, compared with 47.35 in the United States and 0.39 in China, indicating "significant capacity headroom" for future expansion.
Over the past decade, India has emerged as the world's third-largest domestic aviation market. The survey noted that the number of operational airports has more than doubled, increasing from 74 in 2014 to 164 in 2025. This expansion has been supported by public investment, private participation and policy-led initiatives aimed at improving connectivity and capacity.
The survey, however, cautioned that the pace of passenger growth underscores the need for further capacity creation. A major driver of this effort has been the Greenfield Airports Policy. Under the policy, 24 greenfield airports have received in-principle approval so far, of which 13 are already operational. In addition, airport modernisation projects undertaken since 2019-20 have raised the combined passenger-handling capacity of operational airports to about 575 million passengers per annum.
Air cargo traffic has also expanded steadily alongside passenger growth. Cargo volumes rose from 2.53 million metric tonnes in 2014-15 to 3.72 million metric tonnes in 2024-25. During the current financial year, 2.95 million metric tonnes of cargo were handled up to December 2025, the Economic Survey said.
Regional connectivity continues to remain a key focus area. So far, 657 routes have been operationalised across 93 airports, including heliports and water aerodromes. The survey added that a modified version of the regional connectivity scheme aims to add 120 new destinations and serve four crore passengers over the next 10 years.
Beyond physical infrastructure, the survey highlighted several initiatives aimed at technology adoption and ecosystem development. These include Digi Yatra, liberalised drone regulations, production-linked incentive support for drone manufacturing, and a policy thrust on advanced air mobility. It also noted that ancillary segments such as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) and aircraft leasing have expanded in tandem with airport and air navigation infrastructure.
The Economic Survey also pointed to strong growth prospects in ports and shipping. Public-private partnership (PPP) and captive operators are projected to handle 80 per cent of total cargo at major ports by 2030. This expansion will be supported by a pipeline of 48 PPP projects worth Rs 23,000 crore through FY31.
Taken together, the survey said India's transport infrastructure is scaling up rapidly but stressed that sustained investment and capacity creation will be crucial to support rising demand and maintain long-term growth momentum across aviation, ports and shipping.
