New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS): The White Paper tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament on Thursday stated that India's aviation industry has undergone significant growth and transformation over the past decade, with the number of airports increasing from 74 in FY15 to 149 in FY23.

The White Paper on Indian Economy also stated that from FY15 to FY23, the length of national highways increased from 0.98 lakh km to 1.45 lakh km, the cargo traffic at major ports has risen from 581 million tonnes to 784 million tonnes.

Electrified rail route has gone up from 22,224 km (FY15) to 50,394 km (FY22).

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation data, before 2014, there were 74 scheduled operational airports in country and as on date there are 149 operational airports in the country.

The aviation ministry had also claimed that during the six-year period i.e. 2014-15 to 2019-20, Indian airports witnessed robust double-digit Compound Annual Growth Rate of 12.4 per cent in terms of total passenger traffic.

Post-Covid, Indian aviation industry is again on the growth trajectory and the total passenger traffic has recovered to the tune of 96 per cent during 2022-23, as compared to pre-Covid.

"In the last 12 months, two greenfield airports namely, Rajkot in Gujarat and Shivamogga in Karnataka have been operationalised. In addition, new terminal buildings at Trichy, Ayodhya, Surat, Chennai, Tezu, Kanpur and Port Blair airports have been developed," as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation data.