No flights in or out of Lohegaon airport between April 26 and May 9; might affect vaccine dispatch

PUNE No flights will operate in, or out, of Pune for 14 days between April 26 and May 9, due to work on the resurfacing of the runway at the Lohegaon airport

PUNE No flights will operate in, or out, of Pune for 14 days between April 26 and May 9, due to work on the resurfacing of the runway at the Lohegaon airport.

HT Image

This work has been going on since October 2020.

Currently, flight movement is restricted between 8 am and 8 pm. This will now be increased to a total lockdown for these 14 days.

This has affected passengers who have already booked tickets for the said period in view of the summer vacation, but is also likely to affect the dispatch of the Covid-19 vaccine from the city, even as the country is currently undergoing India’s biggest vaccination drive.

The Pune airport’s official Twitter handle tweeted on Sunday, “As per information received from IAF, due to runway resurfacing works, Pune Airport will have no flight operations for 14 days from 26th April 2021 till 09 May 2021”.

Confirming the news, airport director Kuldeep Singh said, “We have got this communication from the Indian Air Force and there will be no flights operating at night-time as well, as the runway is not available. If the Air Force changes its decision, this could be changed as well, as the runway belongs to the Air Force.”

This has also raised questions on the dispatch of the Covishield vaccines which is being mass produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune.

Singh added, “At this time I cannot comment if this would affect the vaccine dispatch as we do not book the slots so many days in advance. The runway repair work was being planned almost a year ago, but for the vaccine dispatch we get the orders only a few hours or a day before the vaccine has to be dispatched; after which the cargo flight is booked.”

SII’s executive director Suresh Jadhav said, “We were informed about this development, but mostly the vaccine goes from Mumbai international airport for transportation to various countries. With regards to the vaccine being transported within the country, we will have to send the vaccines to Mumbai airport or use our vans via roadways. As of now the government of India has not placed the purchase orders for the second lot, so whenever the order comes, if the dispatch has to happen before April 26, then it (transportation) would be taken care of from Pune itself, otherwise Mumbai airport. Sending it by road will be a huge task and add a minimum of five hours more.”

Passengers not impressed

While the runway repair work was being considered for over a year before it started, passengers and airlines were informed about the renewed schedule only a day before it began.

The repair work started in October last year and will now go on for almost a year.

During a media interaction earlier, the airport director had said that the repair work would not affect the daily passenger movement as all flights would be accommodated during the day timings, between 8 am and 8 pm.

Angry passengers stormed the airport Twitter handle questioning why airlines continued to book tickets for the same period, if no flight operations were going to happen.

One user tweeted, “If pune airport ll close in this period so why airlines are booking tickets in this period from pune or for pune...”

Another user wrote, “@CMOMaharashtra what are you doing. when new airport will start in pune. such trouble causing people inconvenience.”

Air India’s Bhopal-Pune flight from Mar 28

Air India will soon start its Bhopal-Pune flight from March 28, which was earlier called off due to the pandemic last year.

Currently, it will operate four days a week - Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday - and booking for the same has resumed. This flight will be a Delhi-Pune flight via Bhopal, which would facilitate travellers who earlier had the option of connecting flights. The Air India flight will save time for those willing to travel to Bhopal directly.