Pune: The Jet Airways crisis sparked a lull in domestic passenger traffic at the Lohegaon airport recently, but things seem to be on the up again.
As per data of the Airports Authority of India from January to July, there was a slowdown in passenger footfall at the facility between March and May. The report said Jet Airways’ folding, and the consequent empty slots, were partly to blame.
“While there are still some empty slots, we are quite upbeat about the upcoming winter schedule, as new domestic flights will be added. The domestic traffic was low for some months due to different factors, but things have now started to improve,” an airport official said.
“It happened mainly because of Jet Airways’ crisis, as the airline operated close to 20 flights at the airport. Since then, many slots have been taken up by other airlines, like Air India. With the winter schedule starting from October-end, we do expect a major jump,” another official said.
Early morning slots are hard to come by at the airport as commercial flight operations are suspended from 8am to 10.30am from Sunday to Friday to facilitate practice sessions of the Indian Air Force.
One official hinted that discussions were on to arrive at some sort of compromise. “If an agreement is reached, we could get close to 20 additional slots during the morning hours,” the official added.
Another official said the airport authorities were exploring the possibility of starting a direct flight between Pune and Mumbai.
“The lack of a direct flight is a concern, as the airport loses a major chunk of business flyers. Talks with airlines on this issue are ongoing and hopefully, a flight between the two cities will soon be started,” the official said.
Experts said the airport needs to concentrate on the low-cost UDAN scheme to boost domestic connections.
16/09/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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As per data of the Airports Authority of India from January to July, there was a slowdown in passenger footfall at the facility between March and May. The report said Jet Airways’ folding, and the consequent empty slots, were partly to blame.
“While there are still some empty slots, we are quite upbeat about the upcoming winter schedule, as new domestic flights will be added. The domestic traffic was low for some months due to different factors, but things have now started to improve,” an airport official said.
“It happened mainly because of Jet Airways’ crisis, as the airline operated close to 20 flights at the airport. Since then, many slots have been taken up by other airlines, like Air India. With the winter schedule starting from October-end, we do expect a major jump,” another official said.
Early morning slots are hard to come by at the airport as commercial flight operations are suspended from 8am to 10.30am from Sunday to Friday to facilitate practice sessions of the Indian Air Force.
One official hinted that discussions were on to arrive at some sort of compromise. “If an agreement is reached, we could get close to 20 additional slots during the morning hours,” the official added.
Another official said the airport authorities were exploring the possibility of starting a direct flight between Pune and Mumbai.
“The lack of a direct flight is a concern, as the airport loses a major chunk of business flyers. Talks with airlines on this issue are ongoing and hopefully, a flight between the two cities will soon be started,” the official said.
Experts said the airport needs to concentrate on the low-cost UDAN scheme to boost domestic connections.
16/09/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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