TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VASCO: The meeting scheduled between officials of Airports Authority of India at Dabolim and the Navy to discuss flight timings during the winter season has been postponed for Wednesday.
When contacted, Airport Director M Suresh said the meeting between him and the naval officials has been cancelled and will be now held on Wednesday.
When sought to know the reason for postponement of the meeting, Suresh said there was no specific reason.
Sources at the airport told Herald that the meeting with the naval officials is a significant one, as the AAI will have to reschedule all its flights for the coming season following the navy’s recent proposal to restrict flight timings of civilian aircraft to eight hours on account of repair work on the runway.
“If the navy goes ahead with eight hours timing as announced earlier, then the AAI will face a difficult time as a number of flights will be reduced by 30%,” said a source.
“The AAI is trying to request the navy to allow at least 12 hours for civilian flights,” added the source.
The source said if the navy pays heed to the request of AAI, then the flights will be reduced by 10% which will put AAI in a comfortable position.
It may be recalled that the navy in view of their annual maintenance of the runway had decided to restrict civilian flight timings
to eight hours starting from the new
tourist season.
