New Goa airport to open soon. First test flight conducted at Mopa International Airport

The wait for the new airport in Goa is going to end soon. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today conducted the first test flight at the Goa's Mopa International Greenfield Airport on Monday. As a part of testing protocol, an Indigo commercial flight from Mumbai landed at Mopa Airport's new runway, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced today.

"Today a commercial flight of Indigo Airlines A320 aircraft, which came from Mumbai onboard DGCA officials, successfully landed at Mopa Airport new runway," Pramod Sawant said on Twitter.



Recently, Chief Minister Sawant had said that the work of Mopa International Airport will be completed by October 23. The Goa government had initially planned to inaugurate the greenfield International airport at Mopa between August 15 to 30, however it was delayed.

The greenfield airport, conceptualised and conceived way back in the 1990s, has been developed by GMR Airports subsidiary GMR Goa International Airport (GGIAL) on a public private partnership (PPP) model, on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. This airport will be a full-service airport catering to both domestic and international passengers besides providing freight services.

Currently, all national and international flights for Goa were handled at the Dabolim airport. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India as a civil enclave in an Indian Navy naval airbase named INS Hansa.