<After someone has had a chance to digest this very readable account we can discuss the similarities and differences with Goa (i.e. Dabolim and Mopa).>
The most glaring difference between this account and the Dabolim/Mopa situation of Goa is that the former seems to deal with a unidirectional development vector viz "growth". You put a new airport virtually in the boondocks and it stimulates economic growth or development over the years or so the argument goes. The problem in Goa is that we have to deal with the spectre of disruption too. Any growth at Mopa will be at the cost of disruption due to closure of Dabolim (unless the Cabinet resolution of 2000 is revoked). In the story under review there is no mention of closure of old airports in Washington, DC, Denver, CO etc. One might say that why is a hue and cry being made about closure of Dabolim when nothing comparable happened when Bangalore HAL and Hyderabad Begumpet were slated for closure when BIAL and HIAL came on stream. It may be worth thinking about this point. For what its worth, the Defense Ministry at one point was reportedly willing to allow HAL to continue to operate as a short haul airport until this got changed in the negotiation process. Now of course the Defense Ministry must be biding its time to utilise HAL, Begumpet -- and Dabolim --- as airports solely for VVIPs relying on helicopter rides for last-mile connectivity.
