The first Indigo Airlines flight to land at Mopa airport receives a water cannon salute on arrival in North Goa, Thursday, January 5, 2023. Photo Credit: PTI
Goa’s second airport at Mopa on Thursday launched 168 weekly flights with IndiGo as it operates from the old airport at Dabolim as well as boosts its passenger capacity for the popular tourist destination.
The new Goa Manohar International Airport, developed by GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL), a wholly owned subsidiary of GMR Airport Infrastructure Limited, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.
The airport saw 16 flights on the first day. Apart from IndiGo and GoFirst, several other airlines are in the process of finalizing the modalities.
Indigo flight 6E 6145 from Hyderabad was the first commercial aircraft to land at the airport at around 9 am. The aircraft was given a traditional water cannon salute on arrival.
IndiGo will operate 168 weekly flights between Mopa and 8 domestic destinations namely Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur and Ahmedabad from the first day of operations.
The existing Goa Dabolim airport in South Goa will also remain active for IndiGo where it operates 436 weekly flights, taking IndiGo’s total weekly flights to Goa to 604.
“The flights to the new airport will be complementary to those at Dabolim. This would accommodate the expansion of traffic while we were below capacity. We expect 1.5 million Indian customers to fly in and out of this airport by the end of this year as we continue to add flights at both airports. IndiGo CEO Peter Albers said.
[The reporter is in Goa at the invitation of IndiGo.]