AAI to build terminal at Dabolim

Centre assures Goa government of Rs 500 crore assistance

Sources told Business Standard that the Centre has assured the state government that it would pump in Rs 500 crore to give a facelift to the Dabolim airport in Goa, with an additional 18 acres of land.

Goa's deputy chief minister Wilfred de Souza said that the AAI would soon acquire nine acres of land from the Navy and start extending the airport apron to facilitate landing of bigger aircraft, besides pressing into service the instrument landing facility to operate in nights.

"'The Navy, which has been controlling the Goa airport, has agreed to allow direct landing of all the scheduled flights in Goa instead of Mumbai, even as Air-India is considering to start a direct flight between Dubai and Goa," said de Souza, who also holds the tourism portfolio.

Several foreign private airlines including Virgin Airlines from Europe, Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Midland from Manchester and Air Arabia from Sharjah are ready to run their flights directly to Goa avoiding circuitous routes, he said.

He added that they were examining the viability of such direct operations, while the Union Civil Aviation ministry was studying the reciprocity of running flights directly from Goa to respective foreign destinations.

"All these steps were to strengthen the existing airport in Goa to meet the projected future traffic, which was expected to run 4,308 international flights and 17,480 domestic flights by the year 2013-14 as against 1,402 and 7,422 flights respectively in 1995-96," said the tourism minister.

The state plans to use this additional land to enhance parking bays from the present 4-5 aircraft to a capacity of at least 10 planes""four A-320s and six ATR turboprops. Other plans include constructing parallel taxiways, development of passenger terminals, cargo terminals and expanding carrying capacity of the airport to avoid traffic congestion.

Expansion will "reduce air traffic congestion", de Souza said, "Last year saw 690 chartered flights came to Goa, this year the number has already crossed 720."

According to official sources, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) would soon be asked to close its road running across the airport runway and operate its traffic through an alternative route to facilitate expansion of the airport without any hitch.

There was no provision at the Sea Bird naval base now at Karwar in neighbouring Karnataka for landing of the military aircrafts and hence the question of INS Hansa's shifting from Goa would not arise, he added.

Asked whether this development meant giving up of the proposal of setting-up a modern airport at Mopa in the north Goa district, de Souza said, "It's up to the six-member central committee headed by Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane to decide."

He, however, added that South Goa MP Churchill Alemao, who launched a vociferous campaign against the Mopa international airport that sharply divided even the ruling Congress in the state, was happy over the current development.

The expansion of the airport was hotly debated, as there is a proposal to develop a new international airport at Mopa in the north Goa district. However, no final decision has been taken.