90 flights to operate daily from Pune: airport director Dhoke
With Pune’s Lohegaon International airport set to restart its 24x7 operations from December 1, 90 flights are expected to operate daily from Pune, says airport director Dhoke
PUNE With Pune’s Lohegaon International airport set to restart its 24x7 operations from December 1, 90 flights are expected to operate daily from Pune. Currently 60 flights are operated daily from Pune and with a daily flyer-footfall of 18,000.
During an Airport Advisory Committee meeting at the VVIP Circuit House on Wednesday, Santosh Dhoke, airport director said, “We are expecting movements of 90 flights once the 24x7 operations start. Airlines are also checking viability to connect new destinations.”
“Earlier there were 700-800 passengers per hour and it increased to 1,500-1,800 in the last one month. Due to the sudden surge, things were a little difficult to manage, although we have increased X-ray machines and you will see more facilities once the airport resumes 24 hour operations,” added Dhoke.
Airport to get 500 CISF officials soon
The Lohegaon airport is planning to increase the number of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials on its premises to at least 500.
“Currently there are 358 CISF officials on duty at the airport and it will soon increase to 500. Once the number increases things will be better managed at the airport,” added Dhoke.
“We cannot speed up the security check as it is important for security concerns,” Dhoke said.
Soon, no vaccination check for arrivals
Long queues at the Lohegaon airport to check vaccination certificates of travellers coming in was raised by Girish Bapat, Pune’s member of parliament and chairman of the committee. Bapat said he will be talking with top authorities to cancel the vaccination check for arrivals.
“While boarding flights to Pune from any destination, passengers are already checked for vaccination and have an RT-PCR test report. There is no need to check again here on arrival. Also, there is no proper medical staff to check the certificates and passengers have to stand in queues unnecessarily. Therefore, we have decided to do away with the dual check and soon an order will be issued in this regard,” said Bapat.