1. TIMES OF INDIA July 26, '05. In "The big squeeze at IGI Airport [Delhi]", the report starts by saying "Any city hoping to be a world-class capital cannot do without a state-of-the-art airport". Goa as a citistate which aspires to an internationally attractive quality of life may want to keep this firmly in mind as well. Delhi however is currently resembling am overcrowded railway station according to the TOI report. Surprisingly this was not the plan. There is about 3500 acres of unutilised land the master plan for which (yes it includes a golf course) has ironically "not taken off". More damnably, AAI is said to be sitting on a surplus of Rs 3500 crores which could have been used for airport upgrades everywhere including Delhi [and Goa?].
2. HERALD, July 27, '05. "Mopa draft proposal discussed". The Mopa project steering committee headed by the CM discussed a draft of the techno-economic feasibility study undertaken by a French agency named only as ADCI. Officials of the ICAO, Montreal, the consultants to the project appointed some two years ago were also said to be present. There is no reference at all in the report to the sensational May 27 news report in Indian Express about the ICAO's proposal to make Mopa an A380 ready airport by 2014. Instead there is again a mention of the planned (2-3 km) rail link and hence a need to co-opt KRC into the steering committee. Thankfully, the report makes no mention of "international" in describing Mopa airport! 3. HERALD, July 27, '05. "Rains hit air, road traffic". This report talks about the disruption of flights on July 26 due to the torrential rains in Mumbai. As a result "at least 800-900 passengers" were stranded in Goa. It seems flights (of Jet Airways) from other destinations that were headed for Mumbai were also diverted to Goa. A total of six aircraft ended up being parked at Goa on Tuesday night. International flights were turned away 9e.g. to Ahmedabad) because of lack of parking space. The report anticipated problems for today's (Wed) two incoming flights in the morning at Dabolim.