Team Herald
VASCO: To decrease the pressure on the existing five aerobridges at Dabolim international airport, the Airport Authority of India has started preliminary work for installation three new aerobridges which would likely to be completed and commissioned by April 2017 informed Director of Airport Authority of India, Goa Airport B C H Negi.
“Dabolim airport has witnessed 48% increase in passenger traffic since 2013. At present, Goa airport has five aerobridges and after the installation of new ones, all eight parking bays will be connected through aerobridges,” Negi said.
“Along with the plan for new terminal building, five aerobridges were planned. However, after we extended the terminal building towards the western side, we proposed for three new aerobridges and started the work which would cost around Rs 12 crore. The new bridges will facilitate the passengers when they are boarding aircraft and also decrease the pressure on the existing bridges. This will also help the passengers during rainy season and summers and even airlines would benefit as they will not require the use of coaches for ferrying the passengers between parking bays and terminal building,” he said.
Commenting on the Indian Navy’s request to Airports Authority of India (AAI) and airlines to curtail number of civilian flights at Dabolim airport, he said, “Yes, considering the ongoing congestion at the airport during peak hours (between 12.30 pm to 3.30 pm), navy has just requested all the airlines to explore the possibilities to shift some flights from afternoon slots to some other time of the day (late evening or early morning). However, this may not be possible as airline schedules would be totally affected. As of now we are operating under winter schedule which is till March and we cannot force airlines to do the same,” he said.
Negi said that in order to address the congestion issue faced at the Dabolim airport, a proposal for a parallel taxiway is in final stages. “We are making efforts to increase our infrastructure for which a proposal for a parallel taxiway has already been made in past. In the coming weeks, the tender for the same is likely to be floated. Though the work for parallel taxiway would be completed in three years time, but in next six months time we would get a portion of the taxiway ready for use which would then address our present congestion issue at the airport,” he said.
