Jayant Sinha's claim comes after US aviation regulator retained highest safety ranking for India. (FILE)
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Wednesday claimed that the number of airports in India increased from 67 to 101 while air traffic has doubled since 2014.
Addressing the media a day after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) retained India's aviation safety assessment at Category 1, Mr Sinha said, "In 2014, when our government came to power, FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) had just downgraded India. Subsequent to that we have doubled air traffic now.
"We have increased the number of airports from 67 to 101 now, so there has been an exponential and dramatic increase in both air traffic and airports."
Talking about safety and quality of the aviation sector, Mr Sinha said, "...two of the premier regulators in the world- the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) have conducted a very serious audit and FAA has once again maintained our Category 1 rating."
"It has expressed satisfaction with the manner in which DGCA is regulating safety in India," he added.
Mr Sinha also expressed hope that India's ICAO rating will improve.
"Once we put in place the full licensing regime, our expectation is we will go up from a score of 74 to 82, which puts us well ahead of the global average and which continues to demonstrate our very strong safety record," he said.
The FAA conducted an audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in July this year to confirm India's adherence to the standards laid down by the international civil aviation body.
During consultations held with the FAA in early November, the DGCA had presented the action taken to address the findings of the July 2018 audit.
The FAA is an operating mode of the US Department of Transportation.