According to a report by Nirbhay Kumar,in The Financial Chronicle, in the midst of a steady rise in air traffic demand, the Indian Navy wants the number of civilian flights allowed at the Goa airport to be halved. The Navy has cited the requirement of airspace and facility for military exercise for drastically reducing the number of flights. The Goa International Airport, the only airport in the state, is a naval facility where state owned AAI operates a civil enclave offering a few flying slots to airlines. Carriers such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have taken the matter to nodal aviation ministry. They have argued that this forced reduction would render their capacity unutilised besides triggering a hike in airfare to this popular tourist destination. The airlines claimed that the Delhi-Goa round-trip could double to INR 25,000 in case flight frequency is reduced. The issue was raised in a meeting with R N Choubey, Secretary, Aviation, last week.
"There is about 20 flight movements (landing and takeoff) in an hour at the Goa airport. All of sudden, the Navy wants to cut it by half from coming summer schedule (travel season). We have been told that the Navy wants the restriction to continue till the new airport comes up in the state," said an airline executive wishing not to be named. Goa is one of the few international airports that have witnessed high double- digit growth in the past few years. As per the latest data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Goa airport saw 33.54 lakh passengers flying to and from Goa in the first eight months of FY17 registered a growth of 27.9 per cent. Most of the airlines, including Vistara and Air Asia India, have mounted flights to Goa, which is famous for its beeches. It receives almost 30 lakh tourists every year out of which 3.42 lakh are foreign tourists.
02/01/17 TravelBizMonitor
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"There is about 20 flight movements (landing and takeoff) in an hour at the Goa airport. All of sudden, the Navy wants to cut it by half from coming summer schedule (travel season). We have been told that the Navy wants the restriction to continue till the new airport comes up in the state," said an airline executive wishing not to be named. Goa is one of the few international airports that have witnessed high double- digit growth in the past few years. As per the latest data compiled by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Goa airport saw 33.54 lakh passengers flying to and from Goa in the first eight months of FY17 registered a growth of 27.9 per cent. Most of the airlines, including Vistara and Air Asia India, have mounted flights to Goa, which is famous for its beeches. It receives almost 30 lakh tourists every year out of which 3.42 lakh are foreign tourists.
02/01/17 TravelBizMonitor
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