Govt to revive 50 airports

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity in the country.

The announcement was made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget for 2023-24. Over the past few years, the government has been taking various initiatives, especially the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, to boost the regional air connectivity. "Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. Besides, she said that 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified. "They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources," she added.

UDAN flights have transported almost close to 1.15 crore people in the last six years. In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday, President Droupadi Murmu said the country's aviation sector is growing rapidly. "Up to 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74, it has now increased to 147. Today India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world. The UDAN Yojana has played an important role in this regard," she had said.