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Pune gets 14 more slots per day for civil flight ops: Scindia
Union civil aviation and steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday thanked union defence minister Rajnath Singh for giving Pune an additional 14 slots per day during prime time for civil flight operations
Pune : Union civil aviation and steel minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday thanked union defence minister Rajnath Singh for his constant cooperation and for giving Pune an additional 14 slots per day during prime time for civil flight operations. With this, the number of Monday to Saturday slots has risen from 102 to 116 while the number of Sunday slots has increased from 131 to 145, Scindia elucidated.
“There are several issues related to Pune airport taken up by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) and others. I would say that our ministry is working closely with the ministry of defence to resolve them, and I must thank our defence minister, Rajnath Singhji, for always being helpful to me and our department. And he has now given an additional 14 slots per day during prime time for civil flight operations. Your Monday to Saturday slots have increased from 102 to 116 while the Sunday slots have increased from 131 to 145,” Scindia said, at an interaction organised by the MCCIA in Pune on Friday.
The minister was speaking on the topic, ‘the central government’s vision for the civil aviation sector in India and how Pune can play a substantive role in it’. “I have been coming to Pune since my childhood and I have many fond memories of the city so I know exactly the pulse of Punekars. Civil aviation is not only related to the statistics and economic growth of the city, but it is more about knowing the pulse and sensitivity of the people,” Scindia said. He spoke extensively about the various aspects of Pune airport and related issues, and also made some important announcements during the interaction. Also present on the occasion were state cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil, Pune MP Girish Bapat, MCCIA president Sudhir Mehta and several industrialists and dignitaries.
“The second demand that was raised was about increasing international connectivity from Pune, and it is a very justified demand. I am shocked to know that there is only one international flight to Dubai and we must increase connectivity to other international destinations. I will make it my job to follow up on your request for connectivity to Singapore as Vistara has already applied to us for starting a flight from Pune to Singapore and we will make the process efficient. We will make sure that both from Pune and from Delhi, Punekars have international connectivity to Singapore,” Scindia said. He further said that they will try to get connectivity to Doha and Bangkok as well. Pune has been declared a ‘point of call for Germany’ and therefore, flights from Germany too will be able to come directly to Pune. Due to the open sky agreement with the United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA), flights from these countries will be able to come directly to Pune as well, the minister said.
About increasing cargo facilities from Pune, Scindia said that their plan was to put in place an international air cargo terminal at Pune which would be ready by December 2024. However, they would be putting in place an ‘interim integrated air cargo terminal’ by March 2023, which would increase the domestic cargo capacity from 17,000 metric tonne to nearly 36,000 metric tonne. The total capacity of this interim terminal would be about 43,000 metric tonne, and it would help bridge the gap between the current limited facility and the integrated terminal slated to come up by December 2024.
Scindia also said that the new terminal building would be ready by August 2023 and that it would take the capacity of Pune airport from the existing 7.7 million per annum to 17 million per annum. He spoke about a multi-level car parking being developed at a cost of Rs120 crore which would be ready post Dusshera in October this year. Scindia added that they wanted to increase the length of the runway of Pune airport, 250 metre on the eastern side and 900 metre on the western side, and that they will try to begin work on the same as soon as possible.
