Go First, a domestic carrier, announced on Friday that it will operate 42 direct flights per week from the new international airport at Mopa in North Goa, connecting Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
Go first mentioned, “The airline’s operations from the existing airport at Dabolim in the Southern part of the state will also continue.”
The Wadia Group airline currently operates 65 non-stop weekly flights to and from Dabolim airport to the country’s major destinations.
The state’s second airport, developed by GMR Airports Ltd through its subsidiary GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) on a design, build, finance, operate, and transfer (DBFOT) basis, is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
The new facility’s commercial flight services will begin on January 5, 2023.
Currently, only 70 flights per day land at the Dabolim airport, which is a civil enclave. From 9.00 a.m. to 2.00 p.m., no landing is permitted at the facility.
“As we expand our network in leisure destinations, Goa is an extremely important destination for us,” Kaushik Khona, Chief Executive Officer at Go First, said.
The airline stated that its first flight to the new airport will depart from Bengaluru at 8.50 a.m. on the same day (January 5), followed by other flights.
Go First direct flights will connect Goa to Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad under the current network plan.
The Mumbai-based company will continue to operate from the existing Goa airport; however, this new station is a step toward supporting domestic connectivity in order to meet the increased demand for leisure destinations.
Go First has recently been on a growth trajectory, launching new domestic and international sectors.
The new international airport is being built in four phases, with Phase I having an annual passenger capacity of 4.4 million, which will be increased to 5.8 million in Phase II.
The Phase III capacity is 9.4 million passengers per year, and once Phase IV is completed, the total capacity will be 13.1 million passengers per year.
GMR Airports Ltd (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure, signed a concession agreement with the Goa government in November 2016 to develop and operate the green field international airport project at Mopa.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation safety regulator, granted the new facility an aerodrome licence in late October, paving the way for commercial flight operations to begin from there.