VASCO
With countries cautiously opening up their borders, the first international relief flight resumed operation from Goa Airport to UAE on Friday after a long gap.
Airport Director Gagan Malik told reporters that the flight was operated by Air Arabia and arrived in Goa as a repatriation flight and returned to UAE as a special relief flight carrying 30 passengers.
"UAE has opened its airports for a certain class of passengers with conditions that passengers get a rapid antigen test done 4 hours before the flight. On Friday morning, the first flight carrying 30 passengers left for UAE from Goa Airport after a long gap during the pandemic,” said Malik.
“Arrangements were made to carry out rapid antigen tests for passengers wanting to travel on this flight.”
“We expect the number of passengers to increase in the near future. Air Arabia is operating the flight and bringing in passengers from Sharjah as a repatriation flight and the flight brought in 163 passengers, the highest since they restarted their operation at the Goa Airport.”
“The flight is a repatriation flight bringing in passengers from UAE and is a relief flight operated under the Air Bubble initiative while going back to the UAE. New destinations have not opened up as yet and it depends from country to county," Malik added.
Aviation suffered, but business picking up: Airport Director
VASCO
Airport Director Gagan Malik on Friday said the aviation industry had suffered the most amid the pandemic but business at Goa Airport was slowly picking up.
"After the second wave, things are picking up slowly and as of now, we are having an average of 30 flights a day with the figure going up to 40 flights in the weekend and passengers flow is picking up,” Malik told reporters.
He informed that all airlines are taking care to adhere to all State government guidelines and measures are being taken care of to check for Covid negative certificates as well.
"The aviation industry has suffered the most and have faced major losses and only some airports are limping back to normalcy. Even in Goa, from a previous average of 77 movements a day, we presently have an average of 30 flights.”
“Smaller airports may have not been able to pick up as fast but things are looking brighter and almost all airlines are slowly restarting operations.”
“The good sign is that none of them has skipped Goa. This shows the confidence they have in Goa Airport which has been working day and night for the safe, secure environment and the smooth passage of passengers," Malik added.
