Pune’s second airport to be ‘fast-tracked’, is state government’s top priority

The decision to build a second airport for Pune was taken after considering the steep surge in the air passenger traffic at Pune’s international airport at Lohegaon.

The Maharashtra government’s plan to build an airport at Pune’s Purandar will be ‘fast-tracked’. The chief secretary of Maharashtra, DK Jain, while speaking at the sixth edition of the US-India aviation summit, said, “The upcoming airport at Pune has immense potential in terms of passengers, cargo and tourism. The airport is a top priority and will be a world class international airport.”

Maharashtra is the first state in the country to have separate state-owned company to develop state-owned airports. (HT file photo)

Jain said that Maharashtra is the first state in the country to have separate state-owned company to develop state-owned airports. “In first phase it [Pune] will have 10 million passengers per year and subsequently, this facility will support 75 million passengers per year. The greenfield airport will be developed on public-private-partnership (PPP) model and we are very keen in partnering with aspiring companies for the project development,” Jain said.

The decision to build a second airport for Pune was taken after considering the steep surge in the air passenger traffic at Pune’s international airport at Lohegaon, which reached its saturation when it handled 8.16 million passengers in 2017-18.