the goan I network
PANAJI
Savio Messias, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has said that he is hopeful that charter flights will be allowed to land at Dabolim Airport at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm on weekdays. Earlier, TTAG has made representations to Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, and other authorities as well to ensure that charter flights get this permission.
Till last year, charter flights used to land at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm from the airport on weekdays. The airport is closed to civil aviation on weekdays between 8:30 am and 12:30 am so that the Navy can use it.
But this year, charter flights are yet to get permission to land at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm from Dabolim Airport from Monday to Friday. Sources revealed that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) does not want more than a certain number of flights to use Dabolim Airport in
an hour.
Allowing charter flights to land at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm will increase the count of flights. Moreover, these are peak slots as a high number of domestic flights also land at Dabolim Airport
at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm.
Messias said, "We are yet to get a confirmation from the AAI that charter flights will be allowed to land at 8:30 am and take off at 12:30 pm from Dabolim Airport on weekdays. But, we are hopeful that this permission will be granted soon."
Not having these permissions is a major hurdle for charter flights, which bring significant number of foreign tourists, every year.
Earlier, the Navy denied permission to charter flights to land at Dabolim Airport on Saturday and Sunday. However, due to Parrikar's intervention in the matter and efforts of tourism stakeholders, the Navy has relaxed this restriction and granted charter flights permission to land at the airport on Saturday and Sunday.
Goa CALLING
TTAG President, Savio Messias is hopeful that charter flights will get permission from AAI to land at 8:30 am at Dabolim Airport and take off at 12:30 pm on weekdays
So far AAI has not given this permission to charter flights for this season
TTAG had also made a representation to CM Parrikar on this issue
AAI doesn't want more than a certain number of flights per hour at Dabolim Airport
The season has already begun and getting this permission is very crucial for the tourism sector, as charter flights bring in a lot of foreign tourists
