Pune: Carpeting work at Lohegaon airport in Pune will affect travellers as there will be no flight service from 8 pm to 8 am starting from October 26. All night flights have been rescheduled to fly in the day time, Airports Authority of India (AAI) said on Tuesday.
Pune Airport Director Kuldip Singh said, "The recarpeting work of runway is going to start from October 26 and will be on for around one year. Since the work is planned during the night time, the runway will be shut for flight operations between 8 pm and 8 am,".
He also added that the flight operations will take place from 8 am to 8 pm. All the night flights, including take-offs and landings, have been managed in the day time, Singh said.
A meeting of the Airport Advisory Committee of Pune Airport was held under the chairmanship of Pune MP Girish Bapat and issues concerning improving passenger facilities, airport structure, land for cargo, widening of roads were conferred.
As the airport will remain shut for the night, airline carriers have started rescheduling flights to and from Pune. The upcoming holidays for Diwali may lead to passenger congestion too. As the number of flights will be limited during the festive time, there is a possibility of an increase in air fares on the Pune route, said airlines representatives.
The flight service was suspended from Pune from March 25 amid the lockdown. It resumed from May 25. The flight service from Pune is available to reach metro cities such as Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Prayagraj, Nagpur and more. At present, a maximum of 60 flights are being operated daily while 10,000 are ferried daily.
“Lohegaon airport is part of the defence air field controlled by the IAF. It is made available for the transport of civil aircraft. The first authority of the airport belongs to the Air Force. Their practice has to be prioritised. As a result, the number of rounds of civil aircraft will have to be reduced,” said Dhairyashil Wandekar, air traffic analyst.
