The passengers of the first flight that landed at the Manohar International Airport in Goa were welcomed by the statesmen and live band performance on Thursday. The flight marked the commencement of operations at the new facility in the coastal state as it landed from Hyderabad carrying 179 passengers at 9 am, airport officials said.
Union Minister Shripad Naik, the parliamentarian from North Goa, CM Pramod Sawant and state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte welcomed the passengers at the terminal building of the airport, a report by PTI stated. The new airport is located at Mopa in North Goa district. According to the news agency, with this new facility, the Union Territory has 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 Chief Minister said a total of 11 flights will arrive at the airport on Thursday.
Here’s all you need to know about the airport:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the facility in December 2022
- The facility has been named after late CM of Goa and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
- The first phase of the Rs 2,870-crore Mopa airport project will cater to around 4.4 million passengers per annum, which can be expanded to a saturation capacity of 33 million passengers per annum, PTI reported
- The built-theme of the airport is sustainable infrastructure
- Mopa airport 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
- Technologies like 3-D Monolithic Precast buildings, StabilRoad, Robomatic Hollow precast walls, and 5G compatible IT infrastructure is a part of the facility
