Goemkarponn desk
VASCO: Dabolim International airport director claims that the Ukraine-Russia conflict doesn’t affect the passengers coming from Russia to Goa and Goan tourism. The passengers usually are traveling, and all slots allotted to Russia are being utilized. Domestic tourism in Goa has improved a lot post-pandemic.
Gagan Malik, Director of International Airport Dabolim, said we are moving towards normalcy. There is no decrease in the number of passengers coming from abroad, nor a reduction in the number of passengers going abroad. The movement of the Russian passengers is steady, and there is no effect on this air traffic movement because of war. As if now we have not been approached, no information has come to us about any relief flight. He added that there had been a demand from Air India for an additional charter flight for London in a week before there was a frequency of two flights per week which has now gone up to three flights a week.
Commenting on the tourism of Goa, the airport director opined that the domestic tourism in Goa has picked up very well post-pandemic. Two days ago, there were 82 departures and arrivals of scheduled domestic flights. More than 12000 passengers have gone, and 13000 passengers have arrived in Goa.
Further adding more details, Malik informed that post omicron variant breakdown, fewer departures steadily increased. Now we are handling around 80 leaves per day.
When questioned about any cancellation of any charter flights considering the Ukraine-Russia war scenario, Malik informed that so far, there has been no cancellation of charter flights slots that were taken by the Russian airline. Two days back, a charters flight from Russia came with more than 500 passengers, and 489 passengers returned.
Till now, no flight slots have been canceled from the side of Russia. So as per my opinion, there is no effect visible on the tourism of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He further added that the flights from Kazakhstan also continue to operate. Initially, there was some problem when the war broke, but later they shifted the airport.
From Russia, every ninth day, a charter flight is coming to Goa on an allocated slot. They have taken nine slots from us and have utilized seven slots so far. Many families with their kids are coming to Goa from Russia,” Malik added.