Team Herald
VASCO: In view of proposed airport runway closure on every Saturday and Sunday citing runway maintenance by the Navy, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) President Savio Messais on Wednesday informed that the naval officials have understood the problems that would be faced by the charter operators and hoped that Navy will work out a solution on Friday.
According to Messais, he along with charter operators held a meeting with the naval authorities at INS Hansa on Wednesday morning. During the meeting, they explained to the navy officials about the difficulties that charter operators are going to face and the loss in revenue, which they are going to suffer if the navy’s recommendation to close down airport runway on every Saturday and Sunday is accepted.
“Naval officials gave us a patient hearing and we discussed a number of alternative measures to be taken. Now, the Navy has asked for another meeting on Friday along with the Airports Authority of India officials. We are quite confident that the Navy has understood our problem and hopefully they are going to work out a solution on Friday,” Messais said.
“If Navy sticks to its decision to close down airport runway from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm on every Saturday and Sunday citing runway maintenance, then we are going to face a huge problem as nearly 5000 tourists on a weekend would be affected. This means, in a month, the state would lose 20,000-25,000 tourists and considering that charter tourists stay for seven to ten days, it would be huge loss to the state. We have suggested to them to sacrifice one of their days in between Monday and Friday for the runway maintenance. We have also asked them to consider doing repairs at night because at night there are fewer arrivals. They are going to study the matter and let’s hope for a solution from navy,” he added.
