13-hr shutdown at Dabolim airport
Navy to undertake maintenance of lone runway
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JAN 25
The lone runway at the Dabolim airport will remain closed on Republic Day for over 13 hours, as naval authorities are undertaking a periodical maintenance of the runway.
Speaking to media along the sidelines of the launch of the naval training ship ‘Sudarshini’ on Tuesday, Flag Officer of Goa Naval Area Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai said it was decided to undertake periodical maintenance of the runway on January 26, after consulting the Airport Authority of India, all commercial airlines and other stakeholders at the Dabolim airport.
“The Navy will begin the repair work early morning after the arrival of Qatar Airlines at about 4 am and it is expected that the maintenance work will be completed in the evening”, informed Pillai.
“The repair work is being carried out after consultation with all the stakeholders, as no flight will be cancelled. Most of the flights have been rescheduled”, added Pillai.
Source at the airport informed that about 34 civil flights will be affected, including three chartered flights, two scheduled international operations and the remaining domestic flights.
The surface layer of the runway, which was laid in 2007, is regularly maintained and due to increase in traffic and arrival of large military and civilian aircraft, some minor repair work is required on the coating of surface layer.
“We wanted to repair the runway without causing inconvenience to passengers, as repairs are necessary and since the airport has only one runway, the closure of it is unavoidable”, added Pillai.
He further said that the Navy would issue notices to the airmen (NOTAM) in view of the closure.
