In recent days HERALD has been carrying short news reports regarding the plan for a parallel taxiway at Dabolim airport. As indicated this would run parallel to the runway and facilitate the entry of aircraft to the terminal and their subsequent exit from it. Previously, aircraft had to traverse practically the full length of the runway to either begin their take-off run or to reach the terminal. This held up other aircraft from landing or taking off and restricted the throughput at Dabolim.
Later, the Navy agreed to the use of the apron in front of one of its hangars as a holding area for aircraft en route to or from the terminal so as to free the runway for the use of other aircraft. It is claimed that air traffic at Dabolim (presently confined mainly to afternoon hours due to naval restrictions for military flight training purposes in the mornings) could treble if the taxiway was built. The planned taxiway would cut across the aprons used for naval maritime patrol aircraft and choppers (but not fighters). It is hard to understand how the Navy has "agreed in principle" to this taxiway as long ago as 2006. Perhaps it was due to the boom in civil aviation at the time and resulting pressure on Dabolim. The current glitches regarding implementation (coinciding curiously with a slowdown in traffic growth) are ostensibly on the grounds of sorting out responsibility for construction (which would take 10 months) and financing (to the tune of about Rs 80-100 crores). There is reportedly a tussle between the civil aviation ministry and the naval authorities regarding this. We consider that the taxiway cannot be viewed in isolation. There is a major bottleneck at present regarding aircraft parking bays which number only 6 currently. It is not known what the minimum number has to be if the planned parallel taxiway becomes operational. To expand this apron space requires the navy to telescope its two runway crossings into one which is away from the terminal and then part with airside land. Then there is the terminal itself which is being sought to be expanded but which is held up because the Navy has yet to part with a measly two acres of air side land out of the 9 acres promised long ago. The bottom line is that any progress in expanding Dabolim's capacity for civilian traffic is bound to be at snail's pace because of the Navy's arbitrary way of decision making in civilian matters. The implication of this for Mopa is that it can also grow only at snail's pace for about 20 years since inception so as to avoid upstaging Dabolim and creating demands for the closure of the latter's civil enclave. The issue then becomes one of determining the right size of Mopa at start up. The present ICAO plan for Mopa has to be scrapped and a new one has to be generated.
