GMR Airports shares in focus after firm reports muted Q4 traffic growth, cites multiple headwinds

The shares of GMR Airports will remain in focus on Thursday after the firm reported muted traffic growth in its business update for the January-March quarter of FY26, although the airport operator hit the key milestone of handling 121 million passengers (PAX) overall in the financial year, despite temporary headwinds.

In an exchange filing released on Wednesday, GMR Airports, which operates airports at Delhi and several other cities, said that it served approximately 32 million passengers in Q4 FY26, marking an overall growth of 0.9% year-on-year (YoY). Domestic traffic grew 1.6% YoY to 24.1 million, although international traffic declined 1.6% YoY to 7.7 million. GMR Airports, meanwhile, said that traffic remained above the 10 million passenger level every month since October 2025.

Overall in FY26, it hit the key milestone of crossing 121 million passengers, with a record domestic PAX of 92 million (0.6% YoY rise). International PAX in the financial year grew 1.7% YoY to 30 million.

Goa’s Mopa airport recorded the strongest growth in passenger traffic, rising 21% YoY to 1.5 million in Q4 FY26 and 15% YoY to 5.37 million in the overall financial year 2026. The airport recorded a 22% surge in aircraft movement during the quarter under review.

Delhi international airport, which accounts for the majority of the company’s traffic, saw air traffic grow around 3% in Q4 FY26 to more than 21 million. Overall, in FY26, however, the traffic declined 0.7% YoY to 78.7 million. The airport at the national capital saw a 5% rise in aircraft movement.

Hyderabad airport’s passenger traffic declined 7% in Q4, while the same for the airports in Indonesia’s Medan and the Philippines’ Cebu jumped 2% and 17% respectively.

GMR Airports said that the muted growth in traffic (specifically domestic traffic in May 2025-September 2025) and FY26 was attributable to the temporary disruptions in flight operations caused by changed airspace conditions amid a series of continuing geopolitical events and the Runway 10/28 upgradation for 3 months at Delhi Airport (the enhanced runway has reopened on September 16, 2025).“Airport traffic in India has been impacted amid ongoing geopolitical instability in the Middle East since February 28, 2026. Despite the global systemic challenges arising from the current Middle East situation, India’s Aviation sector is actively navigating these operational headwinds to maintain connectivity and resilience,” the company said.

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