After several aborted take-offs, Goa to finally get a new international airport today

Recognised as one of the most favoured tourist destinations globally, the western state of Goa will get a second international airport in Mopa in the Pernem Taluka of North Goa district on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new world-class airport this evening. 

Despite being approved in principle over two decades ago in March 2000, the greenfield airport project hit several roadblocks along the way. 

The project has weathered stiff political opposition, resistance from the powerful tourism lobby in the southern part of the western state, a clutch of public interest litigations (PILs) challenging the National Green Tribunal (NGT) clearance, and a slowdown in construction during the Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdowns.

Work on the airport began in right earnest once the state government inked a concession agreement with the developer GMR Goa International Airport Ltd (GGIAL) in November 2016, a subsidiary of airports to energy conglomerate GMR Holdings Pvt Ltd, which also operates Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bidar airports.

The project is being developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode at a revised sanctioned project cost of rupees Rs 2,870 crore.

The state's primary airport in Dabolim belongs to the Indian Navy. Being a defence property, it has constraints of time slots that restrict the operation of domestic and international flights to specified hours due to defence commitments and training requirements of INS Hansa, the country’s biggest naval airbase.

Moreover, the existing airport is oversaturated since it currently handles close to 8 million passengers per annum (MPPA) annually as against an actual capacity of 4.4 million passengers.

Besides, the state, which is currently dependent on fishing, agriculture, tourism, pharmaceuticals, and mining, is looking to become an international hub of clean high-tech technologies and industrial financial services on the lines of Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. This has further necessitated the need for a dedicated major greenfield international airport.

A four-phased development

Mopa airport is being developed in four phases, with the first phase designed to handle 4.4 MPPA, gradually increasing to 5.8 MPPA in the second phase, 9.4 MPPA in the third phase and finally to 13.1 MPPA in the fourth phase. The airport will have the capacity to handle 33 MPPA on completion.

It was initially proposed to shut down Dabolim airport to civilian flights. However, the two airports will now operate in tandem to service their respective catchment areas in South and North Goa, with the government leaving the distribution of traffic between these two airports to market dynamics.

The aerodrome, which was licensed by the aviation regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in October, will open to commercial flights from January 5, 2023.

Meanwhile, leading airlines have been quick to announce operations to and from the new airport.

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.
 

Also read: Goa’s Mopa International Airport to be inaugurated on Sunday: Here's how it looks

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