Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh on Wednesday said the existing Dabolim airport and the new Mopa airport in Goa will function simultaneously.
The traffic management on these airports would be done in a way that neither of them face losses, Singh said at a press conference here in the presence of Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte.
The opposition parties had earlier raised suspicion that the Dabolim airport would be shut after the new airport at Mopa becomes functional.
Asked about commissioning of the new airport at Mopa in Goa, Singh said CM Sawant has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about it and the date for its inauguration will be fixed soon.
He said the management of neither of these two airports can take any decision on their own.
At present, only 70 flights land on a daily basis at the airport located at Dabolim in Vasco city, which is a civil enclave in southern part of Goa. No landing is permitted from 9 am to 2 pm at the facility.
After the commissioning of the Mopa airport, the number of flights landing in Goa will go up to 150, Chief Minister Sawant had said in July this year.
While the airport at Dabolim is managed by the Indian Navy, the Mopa airport will be operated by the GMR group.
Both the airports are government properties, and the central government's intentions are very clear that both the airports will function simultaneously, Singh said.
He said both domestic and international flights will arrive at the two airports.
If you want to see growth in the tourism sector, we require to have better connectivity, the minister said.
Earlier in the day, Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho met Union minister Singh here to discuss the issue of full utilisation of the Dabolim airport once the new facility at Mopa becomes functional.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had on October 26 issued the aerodrome licence for the new airport at Mopa in Goa, paving the way for starting commercial flights operations from there soon.
The new airport will be around 35 kilometres from Panaji in the northern part of Goa.
GMR Airports Ltd (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure, had in November 2016 signed a concession agreement with the Goa government to develop and operate greenfield international airport project at Mopa.
