Indigo to launch its largest-ever station at Goa’s Mopa International Airport with 168 weekly flights

Indian carrier Indigo has been working on expanding its domestic and international flight networks. The airline announced that it will operate 168 weekly flights to 8 domestic destinations from the new Goa International Airport. It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the state's second international airport on December 11. With commercial operations beginning at the airport on January 5, 2019. The present airport at Dabolim in South Goa will remain active, and IndiGo will continue its existing operations there, the airline said in a release.

Twelve daily and a total of 168 weekly, new flights to and from the New Goa International Airport at Mopa in North Goa from January 5 will be IndiGo's largest ever-new station launch and will immediately connect the new facility to eight cities across India; it said. Besides improving direct connectivity to the state, the launch of the new flight services is also aimed at catering to the increasing demand, it added.

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It was announced earlier that only domestic flights will be operated from Goa International Airport immediately after its inauguration, while international services will be started from 2023 onwards.

Goa's Mopa International Airport has the capacity to handle 4.4 million passengers annually. These numbers can be increased later depending on the demand at the international airport. Moreover, the authorities said earlier, "We have also installed a 25,000-ton Temperature Control Facility at the airport to handle pharma, fruits, floriculture, horticulture items, etc."

Earlier, General (Retd) VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, stated that the Central government has no plans to close the current airport in Goa. The minister further emphasised that the Goa Dabolim airport will run concurrently with the state's brand-new airport. VK Singh made the comments at the CANSO conference in Goa, which was organised by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

The Goa International Airport is an under-construction greenfield airport that is being built at Mopa in Pernem taluka of the North Goa district. GMR Goa International Airport Limited is currently developing the airport with a cost amount of around Rs 3,000 crore.

With inputs from agencies