Goa sees tourism lobby grounded in standoff with Navy on airport

fredericknoronha

GOA SEES TOURISM LOBBY GROUNDED IN STANDOFF WITH NAVY OVER AIRPORT (August 2004)

From Frederick Noronha

PANAJI (Goa), Aug 23: Goa's efforts to boost its tourism arrivals are being grounded by Navy restrictions at the lone local airport, and the tourism lobby here is seeing red blaming the the men in uniform for clipping its wings, and restricting its take-off.

Dabolim, some 28 kms from here, is Goa's lone airport. After the end of colonial rule, the Indian Navy took over the airport, amidst claims that it is meant to be a civilian facility.

Euro charter flight operators are irked by what they see as further curbs on
landing timings for holidayers flying direct to Goa from the UK, Finland, Russia and other largely western European tourist-sending destinations.

Naval flying in the area has severely restricted landings and take-offs, since for about half the week, the morning session at the airport is blocked by naval aviation training.

Over past few days, the battle spilled over to newscolumns, with reams of print being consumed to debate the issue. Following protests, navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash agreed to maintain the status quo on charter flight timings.

Navy PRO Commander N V Kesari criticised a section of the Press and the travel industry for their stand, saying in a statement made public here that "there is no change in time-slots available for military operational flying".

But local daily, Gomantak Times, which recently got a new editor in Sujay Gupta and is spearheading the campaign, questioned that view.

Currently, the conflict is zeroing down to flights on Friday mornings -- a good day for the Euro tourists to begin their holiday in their inexpensive and relatively Westernised 'sunshine destination'.

"Military flying operations" have been held for four-and-half hours daily on weekdays, from Monday to Friday, from 8.30 am to 1 pm. This means the airport is shut for regular or charter flights during this period, and daily flights cannot be scheduled at this time of the day since the slot is blocked for five out of seven days.

Resultantly, apart from the Euro charter flights -- which bring in a quarter million tourists to Goa each year -- regular passengers using the airport are also inconvenienced, a charge the Navy however denies and refutes the possibility of it moving out of the airport.

Flights to Goa tend to take-off and land at unearthly hours in the early morning, or get badly bunched-up during the afternoon hours. Local Press reports here cited sometimes-unnamed Euro charter flight-linked individuals narrate horror stories of how flights were sent back or, in one case, narrowly missed collision with a naval flight.

Naval PRO Commander NV Kesari has however argued: "To accommodate increased air-traffic and for the promotion of tourism in Goa, the Indian Navy started round-the-clock operations instead of restricting the same between sunrise to sunset." The Navy says 24-hour operations began in September 2003.

But claims of 'round-the-clock' operations ignore the blocking of crucial entire morning slots on five weekdays.

Earlier this year, the Navy indirectly faulted the operation of the civil enclave, which is manned by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), for continuing to remain from 0600 to 1800 IST as per their orders.

Goa has an estimated 112 domestic and 28 international chartered flights operating from the airfield per week. Additionally, on an average, 15-20 private-owned aircraft operate from Dabolim.

In December 2003, the International Civil Aviation Organisation was working on a detailed feasibility report on a proposed international airport in Mopa, extreme north Goa. But this is expected to be a costly proposition, could take long to complete, and is also inconveniently situated being in one extreme end of Goa.

Some quarters expect the new Mopa airport to be "partly operationalised" by 2007, though work is still in a very initial phase.

Goa's government has gone on record on April 30, 2003 agreeing with Cortalim MLA Matanhy Saldanha -- who has since become Goa's tourism minister -- that the Navy "had illegally occupied the buildings, areas and even Airport in the state".

Goa government told the local legislator that the matter of "taking possession" is "under consideration".

But on December 23, 2003, a Rajya Sabha answer lists Goa as one of the
airports used by civilians currently controlled by the Defence authorities.
It also said that the ownership of Goa's Dabolim airport "is with the Ministry of Defence (Navy)" and that "there is no such proposal or representation" received by the Centre for handing over the airport to the civilian authorities. (ENDS)

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beach

There was a similar situation at Cochin too years back. At that time the present international airport was yet to be constructed. The Cochin airport used to the one inside the city, which happened to be the southern navel command’s airport. It was small for the commercial planes to land. It was a spectacle when a plane lands. It’s practically inside the island. At the end of the runway it is the backwaters and sea junction. Between the backwaters and the airport, a road and rail track runs perpendicular to the runway. As the runway was short the planes has to fly very very close to the surface of the water and cross the road and rail track before touchdown. It was so close that the train and road traffic is stopped to prevent the landing plane’s wheels hit the roof of the bus or train! We could even see the faces of people inside the plane by sitting inside the bus.

When the new airport was proposed the Navy opposed the move intensely. Since the airport was a Navel version, they used to earn a lot like landing fee, handling fee etc. They did not want to lose it. They said an airport next to another airport would create a lot of dangerous situations, as most of the planes would be flying low in this region. That is why the new airport location is a bit far from the city.

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