Much carbon has been expended on paper and too much breath wasted by all and sundry in a wrangle to wangle victory for the Mopa Airport in Goa.
Weighing ‘pros & cons’ on the subject, we need to face reality and conclude the debate in that, a larger, more modern airport, if put into place today, will surely benefit Goa in the long run and into the future, with considerable savings in land costs, construction of entire project at today’s cost and establishment of profitable connections with global players in the aeronautical, commercial and other industries for our region. Possibilities are limitless. A larger airport will have more than one runway, taxiway, apron and related facilities that can expand, unlike at Dabolim. It will also generate numerous jobs for natives. Consider the following factual adverse possibilities and realities that have often surfaced as lessons to us in the past, that for any number of reasons, Dabolim only, can be greatly disadvantageous and unsatisfactory for man and machine in the air and on the ground itself.
Heavy ocean fog, high ocean winds, location of airstrip on a high plateau with runway length limitations, naval intervention in a civil commercial operation and numerous other negative issues play an unfavourable part in the smooth operations of a 24/7 facility that also needs constant maintenance.
Incoming flights are often forced to land elsewhere in other States, entailing extra fuel consumption, additional exhaust emissions, inconvenience to long flight passengers & crew, losses to air carriers, loss in manhours, loss of beauty sleep and tempers frayed in the air and on the ground.
Road congestion, bumper to bumper traffic, clogging of bridges over rivers and other obstructions often affect air passengers arriving and flying out. Lack of taxis at airport has personally been experienced by the writer one monsoon day of very heavy rains when a traffic accident on the Agasaim/Cortalim Bridge heavily chocked the road artery on either side for hours, rendering paralysis to taxis returning to the airport. The taxi fare cleverly soared for a round trip home in Bardez via Banastarim Bridge, taking three hours. Life threatening situation for an air passenger needing emergency hospital treatment could deal a death blow with no access by road to a reputable hospital.
A possible crash or accident on the runway at the present airport could totally paralyze inward and outward flights for hours, if not days.
With economic sense a primary goal, aircraft manufacturers and airlines opt for larger aircraft needing longer runways for takeoff and landing, well into the future. Therefore, the present airport will soon have limitations.
