Goa will have the second biggest airport in the country, with an annual capacity to handle 30 million passengers with the development of a new airport in Mopa, by the year 2020, according to the civil aviation ministry.
A joint team of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Commerce Logistics Department will visit Goa on 7-8 May 2018 to facilitate the development of cargo hubs at the new airport to be constructed at Mopa in Goa. The team will meet Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industries to work together in order to leverage the advantages the state offers in terms of connectivity to the coastal belt of Western India.
The four coastal states in the western part of the country, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa, will benefit greatly from the biggest airport, after Mumbai, to be constructed in Mopa, according to the civil aviation ministry.
Union minister of commerce and industry and civil aviation Suresh Prabhu had announced last week that Goa will become a logistics hub of India after a second airport in the state becomes functional in 2020. The two airports in Goa, at Dabolim and Mopa, will help position the state as a logistic hub.
Mopa airport will have the capacity to handle 30 million passengers annually as well as cargo.
Dabolim airport will also be upgraded with an investment of about Rs600 crores.
The cargo policy to be announced by the Government of India is aimed at boosting the contribution of international trade in the country’s GDP to 40 per cent, according to the minister.