Pune: The winter schedule starting from October 27 looks busy for the city airport with three new domestic flights and an international connection to Dubai, along with the possibility of a link to Singapore, in the offing but the facility still has a few empty slots.
Most of these slots became empty after Jet Airways suspended its services. “Some of the empty international slots include Pune-Singapore, Pune-Abu Dhabi and Pune-Frankfurt. Jet Airways vacated the slots for Singapore and Abu Dhabi in April. The Frankfurt route was operated by Lufthansa. All these three are high yield routes with an average load factor of around 75-85%,” a source told TOI.
Aviation experts feel other airlines have not clinched the empty slots yet because of infrastructure constraints at the facility. “It appears that the premier airlines are not showing interest because of severe airport infrastructure constraints and the amenities at the Lohegaon facility falling short of expectations of passengers, especially international flyers,” said aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar.
He said, “The airport authorities need to urgently address these issues. They also should genuinely upgrade the airport services to global standards to attract premier international airlines. The solution lies only in an independent 24X7 new airport.”
16/10/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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Most of these slots became empty after Jet Airways suspended its services. “Some of the empty international slots include Pune-Singapore, Pune-Abu Dhabi and Pune-Frankfurt. Jet Airways vacated the slots for Singapore and Abu Dhabi in April. The Frankfurt route was operated by Lufthansa. All these three are high yield routes with an average load factor of around 75-85%,” a source told TOI.
Aviation experts feel other airlines have not clinched the empty slots yet because of infrastructure constraints at the facility. “It appears that the premier airlines are not showing interest because of severe airport infrastructure constraints and the amenities at the Lohegaon facility falling short of expectations of passengers, especially international flyers,” said aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar.
He said, “The airport authorities need to urgently address these issues. They also should genuinely upgrade the airport services to global standards to attract premier international airlines. The solution lies only in an independent 24X7 new airport.”
16/10/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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