Flyer charged ₹225 just for pickup at Pune airport’s Aero Mall

Ever since private cabs have been allowed to drop or pick up passengers at/from the Aero Mall parking lot, flyers have been repeatedly raising complaints about the long waiting times, bottlenecks, lack of facilities and overall mismanagement on the part of the authorities

Flyers are irked following an incident wherein a passenger who had arrived at Pune Airport from Delhi on Wednesday and booked a private app-based cab to travel from the airport was forced to pay ₹225 just for pickup at Aero Mall.

Aero Mall was started in November 2022 and is a ₹120 crore multi-facility hub which includes space for parking 1,000 cars along with retail outlets, food mall and office working space. (HT FILE)

The said flyer, Chetan A, raised the issue on X and said, “I arrived at Pune airport and my cab came to pick me up. Within a minute, we got into the cab but they charged us ₹225 for that. At least, Delhi Airport gives 3 minutes to come out.”

Ever since private cabs have been allowed to drop or pick up passengers at/from the Aero Mall parking lot, flyers have been repeatedly raising complaints about the long waiting times, bottlenecks, lack of facilities and overall mismanagement on the part of the authorities. Aero Mall was started in November 2022 and is a ₹120 crore multi-facility hub which includes space for parking 1,000 cars along with retail outlets, food mall and office working space. With Aero Mall as the pickup/drop point for Ola and Uber cabs, Pune Airport is now the most passenger-unfriendly airport. Incoming and outgoing cars routinely cross paths, causing traffic jams; visibility is low; and there are too many persons giving different directions.

Another flyer, Amit Karani, said, “I often travel from Pune Airport to various domestic destinations for my business and every time I arrive at Pune Airport, we have to go all the way to Aero Mall to catch a cab which is inconvenient for us. The cabs should be allowed to come to the arrival gate and not so far.”

Following repeated complaints from flyers, the Pune Airports Authority of India (AAI) has finally decided to operate two low-floor buses to ferry passengers from the arrival gate directly to the Aero Mall parking lot. Soon, the new terminal building will be operational at Pune Airport after which there will be an increase in the number of flights. However, passengers will have to walk around 600 metres to reach the Aero Mall after arriving at this terminal.

Santosh Dhoke, Pune airport director, said, “There are no high charges or fees for parking and halting of cabs at Aero Mall. For two hours’ parking for normal vehicles, the charges are ₹60 and for commercial vehicles like Ola and Uber, pickup charges are ₹40. There might be some other issue and we will check why such a big amount was charged by the cab in question.”