Pune airport to remain shut for 14 days in Oct, commercial flights suspended

The Pune Airport will remain closed for 14 days this month starting from October 16 due to some runway resurfacing work by the Indian Air Force, the officials informed on Tuesday. Taking to their official Twitter handle, Pune Airport wrote, "This is to inform all the passengers that as per information received from Indian Air Force (IAF), due to runway resurfacing works, all flights from Pune Airport will not operate for 14 days from 16 October 2021 to 29 October 2021."

Thereafter, all the commercial flights operating from the Pune Airport will also remain suspended due to the closure from October 16 to 29. The decision was taken after receiving a confirmation NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) from the Indian Air Force regarding carrying out resurfacing work. Meanwhile, the runway maintenance work was supposed to be undertaken in the month of April, however, it was postponed and now will be carried out later this month.

Pune Airport repair work

The airport was supposed to remain shut from April 26 to May 9 to complete the work by the end of October, however, later it was postponed. The repair work at the airport had started on October 26, 2020, and since then, the work on the runway is still in progress every night between 8 pm and 8 am. Pune commercial airport handles a total of 10,000 passengers, both arrival and departure by commercial airlines every day. 

Last year, the airport officials had said, “From September 15, the landing distance from the Lohegaon side of the runway will be reduced to around 2,133m. Work on the runway’s Wagholi end (runway 28), will be completed by next October. All airlines have been informed and they will make changes and adjustments, accordingly."

The Pune Airport being part of the IAF's airbase of Lohegaon primarily trains IAF pilots by undertaking sortie operations. 

Ahmedabad International Airport will also remain closed

Apart from the Pune Airport, Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport will also remain partially closed during the month of January 2022 till May due to some major maintenance work. A notice was issued by the airport administration on Thursday which said that the airport will remain closed for at least nine hours on a daily basis between 3:30 AM to 12:30 PM starting from 3rd January 2022 till 31st May 2022. 

(With agency inputs, Image: PTI)