A curious sight greeted passengers being transported from their planes to Mumbai’s ramshackle airport terminal last week. Two dogs, oblivious to the surrounding melee of jumbo jets and baggage trucks, were happily jogging along the tarmac, looking for their next snack.

Such scenes typify the struggle by India’s creaky, under-invested airports to keep up with the country’s boom in air traffic as airline deregulation and rising economic growth drive a sharp increase in domestic tourism and business travel.