According to a survey by India Ratings & Research, the average non-aeronautical yield per passenger at India's public-private partnership airports climbed by 53.7% over the previous five years to Rs 312 in 2024. The non-aeronautical revenue generated by airports currently accounts for 52% of overall revenue, up from 48% in 2019, according to the ratings and research agency.

Associate Director of India Ratings & Research Rishabh Jain stated that in terms of what has been the contributor, it is primarily your duty-free revenues, your retail, and your land and space rentals, which have been the major contributors to the non-aero revenue.

The main source of aviation revenue is airline air traffic movements, which also include user development fees, passenger service costs, aircraft landing and parking fees, and other operator-imposed fees. Airports cannot unilaterally choose these fees, though, since they fall within a regulatory framework established by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India.

For Indian airport operators, a rising share of non-aeronautical revenue is good news since it gives them a stable and reliable cash flow that they can employ to build and expand the airport. Worldwide, an airport's total revenue is largely derived from non-aeronautical sources.

According to Rishabh Jain, there has been a strong correlation between the growth in GDP and passenger traffic over the years. He stated that in the pre-COVID numbers, they were generally seeing a two-fold growth in passenger traffic compared to the growth seen in GDP. He mentioned that they achieved that number in the financial year 2024 (FY24) with a strong increase in passenger traffic growth following the impact of COVID-19, and they continue to see that in FY25 as well. He added that the growth would be somewhere around 1.6 to 1.8 times the GDP growth.