With yet another assurance that Dabolim airport will remain open for operations even after the Mopa airport is thrown open sometime in 2020, the matter of the two airports working simultaneously should have been settled. But it is not and is far from ended. The fear that Dabolim may at some time close for civilian operations will remain, despite all assurances, and even after the Mopa airport starts initial operations.

The assurance this time came from Airports Authority of India, Chairman Dr Guruprasad Mahapatra, who said last week that air traffic at Dabolim has been increasing by 15 percent annually and it is expected to grow at that rate for another decade, with Goa airport witnessing its 46th consecutive month of double digit growth. According to him, given the manner in which the air traffic is growing, both airports can not only exist, but also grow. While that growth projection in traffic gives hope that two airports may co-exist, tourism stakeholders are not thoroughly convinced of this. The AAI chairman on his visit to Goa faced questions from South Goa’s hoteliers, taxi operators and allied tourist businesses, who largely depend on Dabolim airport for their livelihood and so raised concerns about their future if Dabolim airport gets shut for civilian flights someday.

The question of operations continuing at Dabolim has been debated for decades, ever since the Mopa airport was mooted, and then grew in volume when the project finally began to gather momentum and an agreement was signed by the Goa government with a private company for its construction. There is a major school of thought convinced that two airports in Goa cannot be economically viable, giving birth to the Goans For Dabolim Only movement that has spearheaded the opposition to the new airport. The fear is that the Mopa airport being built by a private entity which will then manage it, will be given preference and the existing airport at Dabolim, run by AAI and used as a Naval facility, will suffer. The fear cannot be dismissed, as there is a sprinkling of ghost airports across the country that see few flights. 

The fact that the AAI is undertaking improvements at Dabolim airport, gives some hope that the airport may remain operational even after Mopa is fully thrown open. Last week the Airport Operations Control Center (AOCC) was inaugurated at Dabolim, and in the next six months the airport is expected to have modern toilers and an inland x-ray baggage system. A parallel taxiway will also ease traffic and allow the handling of more movement at the airport. The possibility of another terminal building, to handle two million passengers, in addition to the seven million that the current terminal building, has also been spoken of aloud.

As everybody concentrated on Dabolim, a question that was not raised and so was not discussed was of the economic viability of the new airport at Mopa. The future of Dabolim depends, almost entirely, on the economic viability of Mopa. Being built at a cost of Rs 3250 crore, the airport is a long term project that will not breakeven easily. Traffic projections at this airport have been given in the past, with 13.5 million passengers when fully operational. The major question unanswered is, whether Goa will be prepared to handle such kind of footfalls by the time the airport is ready. 

On that note, the continuation of Dabolim as a civilian airport will always remain a question mark, as if Mopa handles such a large amount of traffic, where from will Dabolim gets its seven million passengers? Until that question is answered, the debate will not end.