VASCO
Stating that there had been an improvement in passengers at Dabolim Airport in recent times, Airport Director Gagan Malik on Friday said Goa is the one of the safest destinations in the country.
He added that Dabolim Airport was one of the few airports in the country to introduce a system where all passenger baggage arriving or leaving the airport would move through a sanitisation tunnel to kill any contamination on the baggage.
Speaking to reporters along the sidelines of a function at Dabolim Airport, Malik said when the airport resumed operations after the lockdown, there were about 5 flights with around 15-20 passengers in a flight.
“Today, we are operating 19 flights with around 1,965 incoming passengers and 965 outgoing passengers. This means, passengers have begun arriving in Goa and flight operators are requesting additional flights.”
“As days pass, things will definitely improve and according to me, Goa is the one of the safest states,” said Malik.
“As far as international flights are concerned, the decision has to be taken by the central government. We earlier had repatriation flights or relief flights leaving from here but after the air bubble started, we had London-Goa-London flights which were to end this month, but they have been extended to October 15 and things are changing for the good,” said Malik.
The airport director said a lot of steps had been taken up to ensure a safe and secure environment at Dabolim Airport.
“In our fight against Covid, we have opened a healthcare store which will allow passengers to buy Covid-related gear like PPE kits, masks, gloves, sanitisers etc. at affordable rates at Dabolim Airport, in case they forget to get this gear or if their equipment gets spoilt while travelling to and from the Airport.”
“Besides, we have introduced another initiative, which is only available in a few airports. All passenger baggage either arriving or leaving Dabolim airport will move through a sanitisation tunnel and will be sprayed with sodium hypochloride to kill any contamination on the baggage,” said Malik.
