As air travel expands into smaller cities and passenger volumes rise, a parallel opportunity is taking shape on the ground – connecting travellers seamlessly from airports to cities and destinations beyond them. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, India’s airports handled around 420 million passengers in 2025, compared with 401 million in 2024. Domestic traffic grew 4.2 per cent, while international traffic increased 7.5 per cent. At the same time, India’s airport network has expanded from 74 airports in 2014 to 165 in 2026.
Emergence of organised ground mobility
This growth is creating a larger market for organised ground mobility. Every additional airport and flight can potentially generate demand for airport pickups and drops, hourly rentals and outstation journeys. A passenger arriving in Delhi or Mumbai may simply need an airport transfer, while someone landing at a regional airport may require a vehicle for several hours or an onward journey to a destination 100–200 km away.
According to experts, as aviation connectivity spreads deeper into India, airport mobility is increasingly becoming the starting point of the entire ground journey rather than merely a first- or last-mile service.
Mordor Intelligence estimates India’s car rental market at USD 3.14 billion in 2025 and projects it to reach USD 4.78 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.27 per cent. Airport rentals are projected to grow even faster, at 8.39 per cent annually between 2026 and 2031.
The long-term aviation outlook further strengthens this opportunity. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects passenger journeys to, from and within India to grow at 5.6% annually over the next two decades, adding around 425 million annual passenger journeys by 2044.
Evolving traveller expectations
According to Ashok Vashist, Founder & Group President, WTicabs, traveller expectations are evolving alongside this growth.
Business travellers increasingly prioritise reliability and timing, while families and tourists value the convenience of having transportation arranged before arrival. Predictable bookings, transparent fares and dependable vehicles are therefore becoming important parts of the airport experience.
“For organised mobility providers, the opportunity lies in connecting airport transfers with hourly rentals and outstation journeys to provide a more seamless end-to-end travel experience,” Vashisht said
“India’s airport expansion is fundamentally changing the ground mobility opportunity. The requirement is moving beyond simply transporting passengers between an airport and a city towards providing a reliable end-to-end journey. As connectivity reaches more Tier-II and Tier-III cities, airport-linked mobility can become an important growth engine for organised mobility services,” he added.
This evolution is also reflected in infrastructure partnerships. In June 2026, the Airports Authority of India signed an MoU with WTicabs to strengthen last-mile connectivity for air travellers.
With the government envisioning more than 350-400 operational airports by 2047, airport-linked travel could become an increasingly important part of India’s mobility landscape.
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