<span style="color: #222222;">Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. V K Singh has said that 17 scheduled airlines are operating in India as on 9th of this month. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, Mr Singh said, the number of the aircrafts endorsed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA on the Air Operator Certificate is 718. He informed that presently, there are 148 operational airports in the country. It includes 137 airports, two Water aerodromes and nine Heliports. The Minister said, there were 96 operational Airports of the Airports Authority of India as on March, 2017. He said, Viability Gap Funding amount of around two thousand 454 crore rupees has been released to Selected Airline Operators as on 7th of this month for the operation of UDAN flights across the country.</span><br />