Mopa Airport: The second international airport has come up in Goa

Mopa Airport in Goa has become the second international airport after already an international airport facility in Dabolim where flights from Canada to Goa currently land. The new airport is a greenfield airport which means the project was started from scratch and there was no earlier existing structure in any form whatsoever prior to when the construction begin.

The new airport will be a great boon to tourists as the new airport is in north Goa while the already existing airport is in south Goa. There is now an international airport in each of Goa’s districts. The new airport is around 50 km from Dabolim’s current airport. The Dabolim airport runs as a civil enclave at the Indian navy’s air station INS Hansa.

Earlier in the day, prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the Rs 2870 crore Mopa airport project.

The new airport will be called Manohar international airport in honor of the late chief minister of Goa Manohar parrikar. The airport intends to improve air connectivity in Goa by facilitating the movement of civilian traffic into the state and will be a major addition to the overall architecture of Canada to India flights.

According to one of the officials, the flight operation will begin in a couple of months, most probably in January of 2023. The 4.4 million passengers will be catered by airport under the first phase but the capacity can be expanded to a saturation point of 33 MPPA( million passengers per annum).

The new airport is in North Goa’s pernem taluka near the boundary between Goa and Maharashtra. The present Dabolim airport, which is also a part of the Indian Navy’s INS Hansa, is located close to Vasco town of south Goa.

The Dabolim airport currently handles 8.5 MPPA in terms of both domestic and international travelers. The airport was built in 1955 in Portuguese time but the new international terminal was added in 2013 only.

The foundation stone of the new airport was laid down by Prime Minister in 2016. Some of the modern-day technologies have been incorporated in designing and building the airport such as 5-G compatible IT infrastructure, stable roads, robomatic hollow pre-cast walls, and 3-D monolithic precast buildings.

A sustainable infrastructure was kept in mind while constructing the Mopa Airport that includes among other things a green building, a solar powerplant, LED lights on the runway, rainwater collection, and a state-of-the-art sewage treatment facility with cutting-edge capabilities to recycle the waste fast.

On the domestic front, Indigo will operate 12 flights daily and around a total of 168 flights weekly from the Mopa airport connecting to eight different cities in India.

While on the international front, the new international airport will be served by 42 direct flights including that of Canada to Goa flights each week from various destinations in neighboring countries and Europe and North America as well.

State transport minister mauvin Godino also said that the airport will contribute towards the overall growth of the state. He also added that Goa is growing rapidly and may need a third airport in near future.