Panaji, March 15 (IANS): Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's intervention on Saturday forced the authorities at Goa's Dabolim airport to extend the re-scheduled take-off and landing time by two hours, a statement issued by the state government said on Saturday.

The operational timing of the runway strip had been re-scheduled recently by the union civil aviation ministry due to repair and re-carpeting of the runway at the Dabolim international airport, which also serves as a base for the Indian Navy.

"The timings for take-offs and landings during the third phase of the re-carpeting of the runaway at Dabolim airport has been relaxed up to 1 p.m. due to the intervention of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar," the statement issued by the department of information and publicity said.

The intervention was forced by tourism and travel industry representatives, who said that curtailing the use of the runway by two hours (11 a.m.) would have been bad for business, the statement said.

The state attracts three million tourists every year, half a million of which are foreigners. Most tourists use the Dabolim facility, the only airport in the state.

"The defence minister impressed upon the officers of the Airports Authority of India and the naval officers of the necessity to relax the timings for the benefit of the tourism industry," the statement said.

The work on the first phase of re-carpeting will take place from April 1 to April 8 while the work on the second phase will take place from April 9 to April 14. Take-offs and landings at the airstrip will not be affected, however, during the first two phases.

The third re-carpeting phase is expected to begin from April 15 and continue up to June 15.