# India had 166 operational airports by 2026, up from 74 in 2014

> A PIB fact sheet marking UDAN’s tenth year says India’s operational airport count rose to 166 from 74 in 2014.

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- Section: Infrastructure
- Country: India
- Published: 2026-10-21T00:44:01+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-21T00:44:01+00:00
- Event / data period: 2026-10-20
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India’s Press Information Bureau said in a 20 October fact sheet marking the regional UDAN scheme’s tenth year that the country had 166 operational airports, up from 74 in 2014. UDAN was launched on 21 October 2016 to support affordable air travel on regional routes.

The fact sheet links the expansion to efforts to connect unserved and underserved airports. The figures, however, describe India’s national operational-airport count; the source does not separately quantify how much of the increase was caused by UDAN itself.

## Data

### Operational airports

National total; the source provides two comparison years.

Methodology: Counts reported in the official fact sheet; no calculation or conversion applied.

| Year | Airports |
|---|---|
| 2014 baseline | 74 |
| Current figure in the 2026 fact sheet | 166 |

Sources: <https://www.pib.gov.in/FactsheetDetails.aspx?ModuleId=16&NoteId=151125&id=151125&lang=1&reg=6> · Download data: [JSON](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/india-udan-regional-airports-expand-decade-2026/data/release-data?lang=en&format=json) · [CSV](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/india-udan-regional-airports-expand-decade-2026/data/release-data?lang=en&format=csv)

## Sources

- [Press Information Bureau, Government of India](<https://www.pib.gov.in/FactsheetDetails.aspx?ModuleId=16&NoteId=151125&id=151125&lang=1&reg=6>) (Source checked: 2026-10-21; Published: 2026-10-20)

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