The film is based on world's biggest civil evacuation- evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war.

The film is scheduled for release on 22 January 2016.

In February 2015, principal photography was started. The first schedule of the film was reportedly shot in Ras al-Khaimah, United Arab Emirates in early March 2015.

The sets were re-created to depict Kuwait during 1990.

The second schedule of the film was shot in Rajasthan, India.

Kumar and Kaur reportedly learnt Arabic language for their roles.

The film score for Airlift was composed by Amaal Mallik and Ankit Tiwari and the lyrics were written by Kumaar.

The first song 'Soch Na Sake' was released on T-Series official YouTube channel on 17 December 2015.

The full soundtrack album which includes 5 songs was released on 24 December 2015. The music rights are acquired by T-Series.