An Airport For Goa ~ I Ralph de Souza The Goa airport came into existence in 1923, when the erstwhile Portuguese government acquired a large area and constructed a grass runway. The only existing building at this site was a multipurpose shed with minimum basic facilities. This airstrip catered to light aircrafts which flew in once in a way, whenever a government dignitary or an army officer visited Goa. This primitive airstrip was replaced by a better airport in 1950 with an asphalted runway and a control tower besides an arrival/departure shed. The frequency of flights by now were around one a week. This created connectivity between Goa, Portugal and other countries. In 1955, Goa launched its own international airlines Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa (TAIP) and the operations of TAIP carried on till December 1961. Goa was connected by TAIP to Colombo, Daman, Dui and Karachi. From Karachi onwards TAP ~ Transportes Aéreos Portuguesa, ferried passengers to Europe, with Cairo or Beirut as stopovers for rest and refuelling. After liberation, the Goa airport was declared an armed forces airport with the Indian Navy taking it over and setting up a naval base in Goa. Commercial domestic flights of Indian Airlines were permitted to land at the airport and the first flights to touch Goa were the Bombay-Cochin flights which made a stop-over in Goa. On these flights two seats were reserved for Goa and all empty seats on that flight were put on sale. The first aircraft to land was a Dakota, with its legendry tail wheel; later these aircrafts were replaced by Viscounts and then by Jets. Today, domestic traffic has increased to 47 flights, with little less than a hundred landings and take-offs per day, round the year, and still growing. On November 4, 1985 the charter flight of Condor landed in Goa from West Germany, followed by flights of Air Europa and Inspiration East from the UK. These were the three direct flights per week from Europe and they operated from November to April each year. Today the traffic has increased many fold to1100 charter flights coming to Goa during the same months, in 2012-13, with 2200 landings and take-offs during the six month season. Besides these, there are daily international scheduled flights operated by Air Arabia, Qatar Airways and Air India. At the moment there are at least another three more international flights awaiting slots at suitable timings to start their operations in Goa, one being from Europe and two from the Gulf region. The airport is shared between the Navy, domestic scheduled flights, international charters, international scheduled flights and private aircrafts, with the peak period being from November to April each year. The pressure of so many flights, coupled with insufficient and outdated infrastructure at the airport, create such a chaotic situation that in the mid-1990s Goa’s airport was declared as the worst international airport in the world, and for the last two decades it is among the five worst airports and continues to be so till today. This millennium, night landing and takeoff were permitted and all charters as well as international scheduled flights were unceremoniously pushed to the night slots. This has limited the window for flights into Goa, as the major international airports in European cities suspend their operations at night. Hence one has to obtain slots in Europe (which are always fully taken up and hence rarely available), at a time that the Goa-bound aircraft may reach Goa at night. This is a huge setback to the hospitality industry in Goa and to the people of Goa who undertake international travel. One of the most sought after slots in Goa by international charter flights was the Friday slot, as this gave an extra day of vacation to our visitors from Europe. The trade struggled for years to keep it going but finally lost it to the night landing slots. Domestic flights also have restricted timings to operate, as the mornings are reserved for naval exercises. The Navy uses the airstrips on evenings and at nights too. In order to improve the chaotic situation at the airport, a new terminal was planned in the late 1990s and this is yet to get into operation, 15 years later. Given today’s requirements the new terminal is not only out-dated, but insufficient as well, and that too after spending Rs 350 cr on it. With the Dabolim airport being an armed force airport and totally under the control of the Indian Navy, further expansion of any sort is improbable. For the last three decades, politicians and activists in Goa have debated and are debating the issue of pushing the Navy to Karwar. Prior to the establishment of Sea Bird at Karwar, such representations were made to the government to shift the base to Cochin. Till today this has not met with any success. Successive governments in Goa have been helpless, with the representations wrongly made to them, as this issue does not come within their jurisdiction ~ it being a matter to be handled by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. Representations forwarded to Delhi are neither being heard, nor taken cognizance of and they have only succeeded in emitting more heat than light. Now Goa being an armed forces airport, what will be the fate of Goa in case of an external security emergency? India definitely does not have the friendliest neighbours in Pakistan and China, and any external aggression or even a threat of one, will lead to an external emergency being imposed, which will render the Goa airport shut for all civilian flights and operations. We have fought wars in 1962, 1971 ad 1974. These were times when the military hardware was not so sophisticated and Goa, except during the last war, was not within hitting distance of the enemy. Today with the deployment of long range missiles and bombers, Goa falls well within the target area of aggressors. As things stand today, the Navy is still around and firmly anchored in Goa and the availability of slots for civilian landings is as per allocations of the Navy. The pressure on the available slot timings is so high, that the practical time/landing slot period has reached a point of saturation, and to add to this, the apron space available to park aircrafts is limited, in spite of a recent extension in the area. (to be concluded) (The writer is a first generation entrepreneur, involved in travel and hospitality, with establishments in Goa, Delhi, Kerala and the UK) June 2013 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 An Airport For Goa ~ I Ralph de Souza The Goa airport came into existence in 1923, when the erstwhile Portuguese government acquired a large area and constructed a grass runway. The only existing building at this site was a multipurpose shed with minimum basic facilities. This airstrip catered to light aircrafts which flew in once in a way, whenever a government dignitary or an army officer visited Goa. This primitive airstrip was replaced by a better airport in 1950 with an asphalted runway and a control tower besides an arrival/departure shed. The frequency of flights by now were around one a week. This created connectivity between Goa, Portugal and other countries. In 1955, Goa launched its own international airlines Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa (TAIP) and the operations of TAIP carried on till December 1961. Goa was connected by TAIP to Colombo, Daman, Dui and Karachi. From Karachi onwards TAP ~ Transportes Aéreos Portuguesa, ferried passengers to Europe, with Cairo or Beirut as stopovers for rest and refuelling. After liberation, the Goa airport was declared an armed forces airport with the Indian Navy taking it over and setting up a naval base in Goa. Commercial domestic flights of Indian Airlines were permitted to land at the airport and the first flights to touch Goa were the Bombay-Cochin flights which made a stop-over in Goa. On these flights two seats were reserved for Goa and all empty seats on that flight were put on sale. The first aircraft to land was a Dakota, with its legendry tail wheel; later these aircrafts were replaced by Viscounts and then by Jets. Today, domestic traffic has increased to 47 flights, with little less than a hundred landings and take-offs per day, round the year, and still growing. On November 4, 1985 the charter flight of Condor landed in Goa from West Germany, followed by flights of Air Europa and Inspiration East from the UK. These were the three direct flights per week from Europe and they operated from November to April each year. Today the traffic has increased many fold to1100 charter flights coming to Goa during the same months, in 2012-13, with 2200 landings and take-offs during the six month season. Besides these, there are daily international scheduled flights operated by Air Arabia, Qatar Airways and Air India. At the moment there are at least another three more international flights awaiting slots at suitable timings to start their operations in Goa, one being from Europe and two from the Gulf region. The airport is shared between the Navy, domestic scheduled flights, international charters, international scheduled flights and private aircrafts, with the peak period being from November to April each year. The pressure of so many flights, coupled with insufficient and outdated infrastructure at the airport, create such a chaotic situation that in the mid-1990s Goa’s airport was declared as the worst international airport in the world, and for the last two decades it is among the five worst airports and continues to be so till today. This millennium, night landing and takeoff were permitted and all charters as well as international scheduled flights were unceremoniously pushed to the night slots. This has limited the window for flights into Goa, as the major international airports in European cities suspend their operations at night. Hence one has to obtain slots in Europe (which are always fully taken up and hence rarely available), at a time that the Goa-bound aircraft may reach Goa at night. This is a huge setback to the hospitality industry in Goa and to the people of Goa who undertake international travel. One of the most sought after slots in Goa by international charter flights was the Friday slot, as this gave an extra day of vacation to our visitors from Europe. The trade struggled for years to keep it going but finally lost it to the night landing slots. Domestic flights also have restricted timings to operate, as the mornings are reserved for naval exercises. The Navy uses the airstrips on evenings and at nights too. In order to improve the chaotic situation at the airport, a new terminal was planned in the late 1990s and this is yet to get into operation, 15 years later. Given today’s requirements the new terminal is not only out-dated, but insufficient as well, and that too after spending Rs 350 cr on it.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:02:43 +0000
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