Pune airport authority hopeful of operating additional flights during winter schedule

Currently, 60-64 flights are daily scheduled from Pune’s Lohegaon airport. It has already made new slots available and now it depends on airlines to increase connectivity to new destinations. Right now, Pune airport connects to 21 cities

PUNE Additional flights to new destinations are expected to add up in the winter schedule from December 1 as the Pune airport will be ready to restart 24 hours operation.

Additional flights to new destinations are expected to add up in the winter schedule from December 1 as the Pune airport will be ready to restart 24 hours operation. (HT PHOTO)

Currently, 60-64 flights are daily scheduled from Pune’s Lohegaon airport.

“From December 1, winter schedule will be applicable for Pune airport as 24 hours operation will be restarting. It has been already applied to other cities. Since the re-carpeting work of the runway is going on, we continued with the old schedule. There might be a possibility that we may get flights to a new destination. The schedule is not decided yet, tentatively it is expected to be decided on November 25,” said Santosh Dhoke, Pune airport director.

Pune airport has already made new slots available and now it depends on airlines to increase connectivity to new destinations. Right now, Pune airport connects to 21 cities.

“With a majority of people vaccinated against Covid, we are already witnessing heavy rush and the majority of pre-booking slots are booked. So, looking at the scenario, airlines may increase flights to destinations like Delhi, Jaipur and Chennai,” said another official from the Pune airport on the request of anonymity.

AirAsia India spokesperson said, “As Pune airport gears up for full-fledged operations from December 1, we plan to gradually increase our flights to and from Pune. Pune is an important node in our network and we are continuously looking to connect it with more and more destinations as and when the opportunities are available. Currently, we operate flights from Pune to Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Bengaluru.”

The passenger footfall, meanwhile, has increased since the airport restarted from October 30 after the shutdown of 14 days during October 14-29. During the month of September, per day footfall has touched the 10,000-mark. It went up to 15,000 in October and in the first 14 days of November, it crossed the 19,000-mark, as per the data provided by the Pune airport authority.

“Generally, in the month of November, the flyer footfall increases. Diwali season is followed by Christmas and many opt for a winter vacation as well. Footfall will rise after the airport starts 24 hours operation,” said the official from the Pune airport quoted above.