With climate, technology, and mobility transforming how infrastructure is built and used, long-term master plans are no longer enough. We explore:

• How to integrate agility into 30-year infrastructure visions
• Resilient planning frameworks for airports and logistics hubs
• Lessons from leading airports

From Predict-and-Provide to Adapt-and-Evolve

Old Paradigm:
Infrastructure Master Plans were built on stable growth assumptions and linear demand forecasts, aiming to “predict” future capacity and “provide” infrastructure accordingly.

New Paradigm:
In an era marked by volatility (pandemics, climate change, geopolitical shifts), planners are now focusing on adaptive frameworks—planning infrastructure that can scale up, shift purpose, or delay activation based on actual needs.

Resilience used to be a synonym for flood protection or earthquake readiness. Today, it’s multidimensional:

• Climate resilience, to withstand extreme weather events
• Operational resilience, to anticipate and recover from disruptions, whether physical or cyber.
• Financial resilience, built on agile capital expenditure strategies and diversified revenue streams.
• Social resilience, ensuring equity, inclusivity, and adaptability for local communities.

Traditional master plans were static documents. Now, infrastructure planning is becoming a real-time, data-enhanced process using:

• Digital twins to simulate terminal operations
• Scenario modelling to test resilience to disruptions
• AI/ML-based forecasting for dynamic demand evolution (more on this in the second featured insight in this newsletter)
• Smart monitoring for real-time asset health and user feedback

What This Means for Airport Leaders

• Masterplans should be living documents—flexible, digital, and regularly reviewed.
• Design thinking must prioritize resilience over rigidity—allowing future reconfiguration.
• Investment strategies should be phased, blended, and ESG-aligned to reduce future exposure.
• Stakeholder engagement should focus on trust and transparency to enable durable outcome
• Engage in strategic partnerships and public-private collaborations to drive innovation and economic growth beyond traditional passenger services.

Avinia spoke to senior industry leaders in India to gauge their thought process and how they are planning to adapt to the changing dynamic.

This insight from Suman, who leads the Capacity and Master Planning function, and the Project Coordination Group at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), highlighting Bengaluru Airport’s evolution from a 40 MPPA plan to 100+ MPPA within the same footprint is evidence of why masterplans must be flexible, scalable, and future-ready. 

“While Masterplans are built on linear demand forecasts, adaptive infrastructure frameworks is not just timely, but its essential. At Bengaluru International Airport we are embedding flexibility into every planning and design decision—whether in masterplans, terminal layouts or airside development—so that capacity can scale up, pivot, or pause as conditions demand. Just as an example, our first masterplan in 2008 was developed to handle a saturation capacity of 40 MPPA for the year 2028. Recently we updated our masterplan to handle an upward of 100 MPPA capacity in the same footprint, considering we are already at 43 MPPA today. Looking ahead, planners must also anticipate technology disruptions—biometrics, eVTOLs, and other breakthroughs—so today’s infrastructure can adapt to tomorrow’s innovations.” – Suman Ramasundaram, Associate Vice President, BIAL.

Kiran Jain from Noida Airport emphasizes on the need for sustainable development while integrating net zero ambitions and modular design.

“Infrastructure planning is evolving to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world. Traditional master plans, built on fixed growth expectations, are giving way to flexible, adaptive frameworks that respond to real-time conditions. Today’s infrastructure must be designed to scale, pivot, or delay implementation based on shifting needs and uncertainties such as pandemics, climate change, and geopolitical factors. A prime example is Noida International Airport, which features phased development allowing capacity to expand from 12 million to 70 million passengers as demand grows. The integrated passenger terminal is designed for seamless phasing, enabling adjustments to both the scale and nature of demand as it evolves.

Its focus on sustainability through net zero emissions, renewable energy, and modular design ensures it can adapt operationally and environmentally. This approach epitomizes the shift towards resilient, future-ready infrastructure—capable of delivering value while managing risk in an unpredictable world”. – Kiran Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Noida International Airport

Sapan Gupta, head of master planning and design at GMR Hyderabad Airport, provides a holistic view of his priorities in shaping the vision for the new terminal at Hyderabad.

“The focus is no longer only on efficiency, capacity, or visual appeal. Today the key question shaping master plans and investment decisions is whether infrastructure can withstand the unexpected. At Hyderabad Airport, the pandemic disrupted demand just like everywhere else, yet it was among the first to bounce back to pre-COVID levels and even record double-digit passenger growth. This kind of volatility forces airport planners to think differently: Can facilities be repurposed quickly? How can technology enable more adaptable spaces?

I am a strong proponent of data-driven design approach, especially for large public infrastructure like airports. At Hyderabad’s Airport Operations Control Centre (APOC), we have an AI-powered digital twin platform that integrates airside, landside, and terminal operations that provides real time data which not only improves day-to-day operations but also generates valuable insights that inform long-term infrastructure design”. – Sapan Gupta, Head- Master Planning and Design, GHIAL.