Team Herald
VASCO: The tourism industry has raised serious concerns Indian Navy’s fresh recommendation seeking permission to close down Dabolim airport runway between 8.30 am and 12.30 pm on every Saturday and Sunday citing runway maintenance
“If this recommendation by Navy is accepted then as many as eight flights daily, including the international ones will be affected. Besides, closing runway on weekends will have a severe impact on tourism industry, especially on chartered flights. Hence, we will strongly oppose the move during crucial meeting with Navy officials on Wednesday at INS Hansa,” said Savio Messais, President of Travel and Tourism Authority of Goa (TTAG).
He said that TTAG was shocked that though the final decision on Navy’s recommendation to close the airport runway between 8.30 am and 12.30 pm on every Saturday and Sunday is yet to be taken, however some domestic airlines have already received a letter from Navy, asking them to make arrangements for permanent closure of their operations between 8.30 am and 12.30 pm on every Saturday and Sunday.
“Some seven years ago, Navy was using the runway between 8.30 am and 12.30 pm from Monday to Thursday. At that time, most airlines were forced to operate on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, as the Navy was not using the runway on these days. Gradually, Friday also was taken by Navy and now they want to close down civilian operations even on Saturdays and Sundays citing maintenance of runway. Does it make any sense when we all know that Goa is a tourist destination? Also in last seven years, most airlines started with their operations on Saturdays and Sundays. Now, it is becoming very difficult for these airline companies to readjust. Airlines such as TUI have been coming since last over 25 years on Sundays. They have adjusted their aircraft timings all over the world,” Messais informed.
He said that the number of domestic flights to Goa has been increasing every year as operators want their presence in Goa with IndiGo having 25 flights to Goa. In the bargain the charters are being pushed out.
“What we are suggesting is that if the Navy could sacrifice one of its days for maintenance because here the state is losing so much revenue. They can select some other day for maintenance and not weekends. The main question is why the Navy requires so many days for maintenance. We have seen how much Navy has been using the runway and hence it is very much possible for them to reduce the number of days of operations or they can even close one of their days for maintenance, which is a practical solution. Right now, if the Navy’s proposal is accepted then nearly about 8 to 10 flights will have to be cancelled, which means around 4000 less people coming in to Goa on weekends. It will be a big blow to the tourism industry,” he added.
