About Goa Airport
Goa International Airport (IATA: GOI, ICAO: VOGO), more commonly known as
Dabolim Airport, is an international airport located in the city of Dabolim
in Goa, India. It is the only airport in the state and operates as a civil
enclave in a military airbase named INS Hansa. It is 4 km from the nearest
city Vasco da Gama, 23 km from the South Goa district headquarters of Margao,
and 30 km from the capital city Panjim.
The airport was built, in 1955, by the Government of the Portuguese State of
India, on 249 acres (101 ha) of land, as the Aeroporto de Dabolim, later
receiving the official name of Aeroporto General Bérnard Guedes.
Until 1961, the airport served as the main hub of the Portuguese India's
airline TAIP (Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa), which on a regular
schedule served Daman, Diu, Karachi, Mozambique, Portuguese Timor, and other
destinations.
Goa's estimated 1200 international flights per year account for some 93% of
the country's international charter tourist flights. It is estimated that
about 300 to 350 thousand international tourists arrive at Dabolim on
charter flights. Goa's total international tourists (roughly double the
charter passengers) account for 5-10% of the national figure and 10–15% of
the country's foreign exchange receipts from tourism. As the weekend morning
hours approach saturation due to waves of chartered flights especially from
UK, and Russia, attention is shifting to the night and early morning hours
of weekdays for accommodating such flights. Tourists from UK to Goa by air
were estimated to number about 300,000 in 2013-14 while those from Russia
numbered about 49,000 (by 280 charter flights) in the same period.
The modernisation project of Goa Airport was one of 35 airport expansion
projects undertaken by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and, in terms
of size and money, was its third largest project after the ones at Chennai
and Kolkata airports. It included the construction of an integrated terminal
building to replace the older terminals, a multi-level car parking (MLCP)
facility to accommodate between 540 to 570 cars and construction of
additional parking stands for aircraft, among others. The AAI acquired
additional land from the Indian Navy and the State Government for apron
expansion and the expansion of the older international terminal building
complex.
The foundation stone for the terminal was laid on 21 February 2009, the
project work began in May 2010 and construction of the terminal began in May
2011. The terminal can handle 2,750 peak hour passengers, cost Rs. 3.45
billion and was inaugurated on 3 December 2013.
The integrated building design features aesthetic glass, large steel span
structures and frameless glazing. The 62,000 square metre terminal will
cater to five million passengers annually. It will be equipped with 16
aerobridges, out of which, eight will be installed in the first phase. The
terminal will also feature an in-line baggage scanning system and a
state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant.
It has 75 check-in counters, 22 immigration counters for departures, 18
immigration counters for arrivals, 14 security check booths and 8 customs
counters. The basement of the four-level terminal has utilities like
electricity and cargo handling. The check-in counters are placed on the
ground floor while the first floor has security check booths. The second
floor has the security hold area where passengers may wait before boarding
an aircraft.
The existing terminal buildings would be totally shut down for all air
operations after the commissioning of the new terminal.
Terminal 1 - Domestic
Less than a dozen airlines compete in the domestic market. There are 132
airports in India which can be categorised in sometimes overlapping ways
into public sector, private sector, civil enclaves, international, metro,
and non-metro. Goa is connected to all six main cities in India: Mumbai,
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai & Kolkata. There are multiple flights
to Mumbai per day, operated by over 5 airlines. The first Goa – Mumbai
domestic flight leaves at around 0700 in the morning and the last flight
leaves at around 2350.
Terminal 2 - International
Dabolim's scheduled international flights are rather limited, however these
have been on the increase in recent years. These are operated only to the
Persian Gulf region by the state owned carrier Air India and Doha based
carrier, Qatar Airways. Foreign carriers were for long disallowed from
operating scheduled flights to or from Goa, but have recently started
obtaining permission to do so.
Several European charter airlines fly to Goa seasonally, typically between
November and May. Flights from the UK (London Gatwick & Manchester Airport)
are operated by Thomson Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines.
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