PANAJI
January 5 will go down in history where a new chapter in the aviation sector was scripted with the landing of the first commercial flight at the Manohar International Airport at Mopa.
The IndiGo Airlines -- a Hyderbad to Goa flight -- carrying 179 passengers was given a water canon salute when it landed. Fourteen other flights also landed and took off at the airport in the day.
Union Minister Shripad Naik, Rajya Sabha member Vinay Tendulkar, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, BJP state chief Sadanand Shet Tanavade and the airline officials welcomed the passengers at the terminal building of the airport.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh virtually participated in the event.
There was also a live band performance outside the airport to welcome the passengers.
Another passenger flight of IndiGo also left for Hyderabad, making it the first flight to depart from the new airport.
Speaking to media, Sawant said this is a “dream come true” for Goa and a “big achievement” for the State and the Centre.
The passengers were happy and appreciated the services offered at the new airport, he said.
He said the airport will strengthen Goa's capabilities for tourism, trade and business. Goa now has two airports from today onwards, the chief minister said.
Some of the passengers expressed happiness at the grand welcome and
said they had an amazing experience.
The dignitaries handed over the boarding passes to the passengers of that flight.
A couple who arrived from Hyderabad by the first flight said, “the experience was very good. We are very glad to be a part of the celebration here.” Another couple from the same flight expressed happiness at the grand welcome and the water canon salute given to the aircraft after landing at the airport.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the first phase of the new airport on December 11, 2022.
The airport has been named after late Manohar Parrikar, the former defence minister who had also served as the chief minister of Goa.
With the new facility at Mopa, Goa has now got another international airport which is located 50 km apart from the south Goa-based Dabolim facility, operated as a civil enclave in the Indian Navy's air station INS Hansa.
The first phase of the Rs 2,870 crore Mopa airport project will cater to around 4.4 million passengers per annum (MPPA), which can be expanded to a saturation capacity of 33 MPPA, an official earlier said.
The airport has been built on the theme of sustainable infrastructure and has a solar power plant, green buildings, LED lights on the runway, rainwater harvesting, state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant with recycling facilities, among other such facilities.
It has adopted some of the best-in-class technologies like 3-D Monolithic Precast buildings, StabilRoad, Robomatic Hollow precast walls, and 5G compatible IT infrastructure.
Meanwhile, IndiGo, which has the largest market share in India’s domestic aviation sector, announced the commencement of operations from the Manohar International Airport. It is the airlines' 76th domestic and 102nd overall destination in 6E network.
IndiGo will operate 168 weekly flights between Mopa and eight domestic destinations -- Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur and Ahmedabad -- right from the first day of operations, the airlines' CEO Pieters Elbers said.
