E-Paper
AAI claims passengers will not be affected due to night embargo at Pune airport
As many as 26 night flights have been shifted to day time to accommodate the re-carpeting work which will take place between 8am and 8pm for the next one year by the air force authorities.
Although fears are being expressed by the travel industry that flyers heading for Delhi, Bengaluru and other cities during Diwali may face inconvenience due to night flight embargo at the Lohegaon airport beginning October 26, the Pune airport authorities have made it clear that the rescheduling of flights will not have any impact on the number of flights departing Pune and all the night slot flights will be adjusted as per the revised scheduled.
As many as 26 night flights have been shifted to day time to accommodate the re-carpeting work which will take place between 8am and 8pm for the next one year by the air force authorities.
According to the travel agents’ association, the waiting list of passengers will increase and mostly the tourist passenger traffic will be affected. The association said that during the festive season it would be difficult to travel to different destinations and catch the connecting flights due to the limited operational timings. During the festive season, the number of flyers increase and as a result the waiting time for tickets too will increase with lesser options for the flyers.
Currently between 35 and 42 flight movements are taking place on a daily basis at the airport which is a significant reduction from nearly 160 flight operations before March.
Pune airport director Kuldip Singh said, “The airport authorities will operate four flights in an hour of the twelve hours available with them. There are currently 42 flights with a capacity to run 48 and more flights cannot be squeezed as social distancing norms are to followed. The new schedule will not lead to flight cancellations and will not have any impact on the flights and there will be no night flights during the said period.”
The airport is losing an income of about Rs 2.5 crore in freight every day and the AAI is striving hard to acquire additional land for cargo facility.
“There are no direct flights to many cities from Pune and even for going abroad. Flyers fly to Delhi and take international flights from the capital. From here they either take the early morning or night flight. Now, the passengers cannot avail this facility and mostly the tourist passengers will affected,” said Nilesh Bhansali, director Travel Agents’ Association of Pune.
The Pune airport has seen less than a third of passenger traffic as compared to pre-Covid months. The pandemic has impacted air travel drastically with the airport witnessing a passenger footfall of nine million during 2018-2019, while in January-February 2020, the footfall was reduced to a meagre 2,000-3,000. Until September, the airport has registered 1.63 lakh passengers and 1,948 flights left from Pune.