No Night Flights At Pune Airport For One Year Starting 26 October

The airport authorities have announced that no flights will operating to/from Pune’s Lohegaon airport during night for a year due to recarpeting work of runway.

“The recarpeting work of runway is going to start from October 26 and will be on for around one year. Since the work is planned during the night time, the runway will be shut for flight operations between 8 pm and 8 am,” Pune Airport Director Kuldip Singh said.

“There are a total of 13 flights which were scheduled at night and all of which have been shifted to the daytime. We have 12 hours with us and with social distancing norms we can operate about four flights in an hour. Currently, we have 42 flights and have the capacity to run 48 flights. We cannot squeeze in more flights since we have to follow social distancing norms. Flight operations will continue only from 8 am to 8 pm.” he further added

The Lohegaon Airport Authority committee had held a meeting on October 6, which was presided by BJP MP Girish Bapat. At the meeting, Singh highlighted how the coronavirus pandemic outbreak has impacted aviation and affected the aviation industry. He recounted that the passenger footfall during the peak season in 2018-19 was nine million, which dwindled to 2,000-3,000 between January and February.

Meanwhile, the Pune MP said they’re planning to acquire more land from the Indian Air Force to expand the parking lot. at present, there’s merely enough space for seven planes to be parked. this can reportedly be increased to accommodate 14 flights, which might benefit both travelers and flight operators. He informed that land acquisition talks are already on with the defense ministry.

(Source: Money Control)

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