In what has come as a major relief to the tourism industry of Goa, Navy has removed restrictions on charter flights to land at Dabolim Airport on Saturday and Sunday. Due to this, charter flights will now be able to land at the airport on weekends, which has given tourism stakeholders a major breather.
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Few weeks back, it was reported that Navy had imposed restrictions saying that charter flights would no longer be able to land at Dabolim Airport on Saturday and Sunday. Subsequently, a number of charter flights had threatened that they would pull out of Goa altogether.
The relaxation of Navy restrictions was the result of a joint meeting between Flag Officer Naval Aviation, Rear Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl, the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC)'s chairman Nilesh Cabral and Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha.
Speaking to media after the meeting, Godinho said, "There will be no hindrance to having sufficient charter flight landings and this is a big boost to the tourism industry."
"I must thank the Naval authorities for agreeing to the State government's demands. Several people and TTAG were worried that with less landing slots, there will be less charter flights and fewer tourists. But, now the issue is sorted," added Godinho
Savio Messias, president, TTAG said, "The Navy has withdrawn travel restrictions imposed on charter flights for Saturday and Sunday. This is a big victory for us. We all had a long meeting and realised that there was no alternative for these flights but to land on Saturday and Sunday at the Dabolim Airport."
Messias continued, "The relaxation from Navy came as a result of efforts made by Chief Minister. Parrikar was instrumental as Union Defence Minister for improving the facilities at the Dabolim Airport like construction of a new taxiway for aircrafts."
Messias further informed that Navy has relaxed these restrictions on Charter flights for this tourism season, which means upto March 2018. For the next year's tourism season beginning October 2018, ways will have to be found to ensure that Charter flights can land in Goa.
Tour operators assured that Charter flights, which were earlier threatening to pull out of Goa, will no longer do so and they are looking at an exciting season ahead.
Ernest Dias, chief operating officer, Sita Travels and TCI said, "Naval restrictions on Charter flights were removed due to serious efforts made by Parrikar. If not for his efforts, these restrictions would not have been removed."
Dias continued, "Traditionally, British charter flights used to get landing slots at the Dabolim Airport on Saturday and Sunday. As Navy had earlier imposed restrictions, a British Charter was threatening to pull out of Goa. Now, that will not happen. It's a major boost to us."
Meanwhile, Charter flights still are restricted from landing at Dabolim Airport at 8:30 am and taking off at 12:30 pm on weekdays. Messias said, "This comes under the domain of AAI. CM Parrikar has assured us that this issue will also be sorted out."
