New Goa airport development proves air travel no longer a luxury: PM Modi

The new international airport at Mopa in Goa is an example of the government's changing priorities while ensuring all-round development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the inauguration of the country's tenth greenfield airport on Sunday. 

"The Manohar International Airport is an example of the changing soch (thought process) as well as approach of the government," PM Modi said. "The luxury tag attached with aviation had led the previous governments to curtail spending on the sector. They failed to understand that even the middle classes aspired to travel by air," he added.

Modi said expansion in airport infrastructure and launch of the UDAN-Regional Connectivity Scheme had helped substantially grow the demand for air travel.

"All this has led to India becoming the world's third-largest air travel market. The UDAN scheme makes a fit case for comprehensive study by a university," observed PM Modi.

Modi had laid the foundation stone of the airport project in November 2016, with construction starting two years later at a revised cost of Rs 2,870 crore.

With work on the first phase having completed, Manohar International Airport currently has the capacity to handle 4.4 million passengers per annum (MMPA). It will have the capacity to handle 33 million passengers per annum on completion of the final fourth phase.

The airport has a 3.5 km long and 60 metres wide code 4E compliant runway; capable of handling world’s biggest aircraft like Airbus A380. It also has a parallel taxiway with similar specification as the main runway, with two rapid exit taxiways & six cross taxiways.

It has 14 parking bays, out of which five are aerobridges. It also offers adequate night parking facilities for aircraft. Other amenities include an expansive 25,000 metric tonne temperature-controlled cargo terminal, 18 check-in counters, four self-baggage drop facilities and 12 immigration and eight immigration counters.

The Manohar International Airport will be a zero-carbon footprint airport and will join a very elite club of green airports across the world.

The project is being developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) under a concession agreement inked between the state government of Goa and GMR Goa International Airport Ltd (GGIAL), a subsidiary of airports to energy conglomerate GMR Holdings Pvt Ltd.

The Central government has granted in-principle approval for setting up of 21 greenfield airports. While nine greenfield airports, including Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar are already operationalised, Mopa airport will open to commercial flights from January 5 in the New Year. 

The country’s largest airline by fleet and market share, IndiGo has announced 12 daily and a total of 168 weekly new flights to and from Mopa.
 
This will be the low-cost carrier’s (LCC’s) largest-ever new station launch, connecting the new airport to eight cities across India. LCC Go First has also announced 42 weekly flights to and from the airport. In a communication to fliers, Muscat-headquartered Oman Air has informed that it will be entirely shifting all its flights to Mopa from Dabolim starting January 1.

Business Today has learnt that more Indian and international carriers are expected to announce operations to Mopa in the coming days. 

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