Airlift reactors are pneumatically agitated reactors finding wide applications in chemical and biotechnology industries as well as in the treatment of wastewater. The design and scale-up of an airlift reactor is difficult and largely based on empirical approaches. The bubble size, distribution, and concentration are important parameters that influence the gas holdup and interfacial area. However, the influence of bubble size and distribution are not taken into account by any of the empirical correlations. In the present investigation, a phenomenological approach has been developed to predict the gas holdup in an internal loop airlift reactor. This approach considers the effect of bubble dynamics such as bubble breakup and bubble coalescence in the column and employs a population balance approach to determine bubble concentration in the column. From the knowledge of number and size of the bubbles, gas holdup in the reactor was obtained. A reasonably good agreement was observed between the simulation model predictions and the experimental data reported in the literature.