Two airports can easily coexist in Goa: AAI

Panaji, February 18: Goa air traffic is increasing by 15 % every year and this is enough demand for two airports to co-exist and grow in the tiny Goa says the Airport Authority of India (AAI) chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra.

Besides Dabolim, the second international airport is set to come up at Mopa at a cost of Rs 3250 Cr. The new airport is expected to be commissioned by 2020. The state has an airport at Dabolim now which is primarily a Navy facility.

"Goa has only one airport but the way air traffic growth is taking place, we can see that both the airports can grow and exist," Guruprasad Mohapatra told at Vasco on Saturday while inaugurating the airport operations control centre facility.

"There are always take-off (teething) issues when a new airport comes up, but those are gradually taken care of. I strongly feel that both the airports should continue to grow," he said.

 

Mohapatra said Goa’s traffic is increasing at 15 percent a year and the current facility would not be able to cope with the load. “Today we are in the 46th consecutive month of double-digit growth. The Goa market is growing at 15 percent,” he said and added that this growth rate will continue for another 10 years.

He said that the refurbished airport will have modern toilets and inland X-ray baggage system which will be in place in another six months. The Dabolim airport will also have a parallel taxiway to ease traffic and handle more movement. “We can add more flights once the parallel taxiway is complete,” he added.