Konkan, the rugged section of the western coastline of India, has got its first airport known as Sindhudurg Airport, that is going to be inaugurated by the Maharastra chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu today, on March 5, said by an official. The airport will witness the operation of regular commercial flights very soon.
The Chief Minister and the Aviation Minister, both are incidentally hailing from the Konkan region, will inaugurate the newly constructed air terminals and other facilities at the greenfield Chipi Airport, while a memorandum of understanding would be signed for the Ratnagiri Airport at the same time, informed the official.
Located at Chipi-Parule, 27 kilometres from the Mumbai – Goa highway, the airport will be the 14th airport to the state of Maharastra. After a successful trials conducted in September 2018, initially the airport will get its flights from the major western cities of the country, like Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. Flight operations under the UDAN scheme are expected to be launched from here shortly, which will boost the tourism and related economic sectors of the region for sure.
As said an official, “With the Sindhudurg Airport, Konkan’s connectivity to northern Karnataka, western Maharashtra and Goa would get a boost. Being well connected, Konkan can also be developed as a coveted tourist destination as the region has a long and magnificent coastline blessed with abundant greenery and dazzling beaches, natural beauty with ancient temples, historical forts and other tourist attractions.”
The new airport of Konkan has the capacity of handling 400 passengers per hour and over a million passengers per annum as per estimation. Further it has a 2500×45 metres long runway which can comfortably operate A-320 and B-737 types of aircrafts. The construction charge of the airfield is around Rs 520 crore.
Added to this, on the same day of inauguration, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) will also be reactivating Ratnagiri Airport for commercial flight operations under the UDAN. Ratnagiri Airport is a nearby airport and till now it was being used for defence purposes only.
As the Civil Aviation Minister says, “We are fully committed to start air operations from Ratnagiri at the earliest. Bids under UDAN 3.1 have already been invited for flights on Ratnagiri-Mumbai sector. Both Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri airports shall boost the tourism and economy of Konkan.”
Apart from all these, to develop Konkan as an desired tourist spot, the state government is planning to start a fishing centre and a horticulture cargo hub in Sindhudurg, while the MIDC is to launch adventure tourism here at an expense of Rs 65 crore.
