Pune: Many flyers planning their vacations during the winter are booking trips via Mumbai with no clarity on the total runway closure at the city airport for recarpeting.
Anand Sil, who has been planning to go to Darjeeling in November, booked a flight to Kolkata from Mumbai instead of Pune. “There have been talks about runway closure, which would stop all flight movements, but the dates are not clear. We tried asking the Pune airport authorities and they said that the IAF had not clarified the dates. We thought it would be a risk to book a flight from Pune and decided to book it from Mumbai instead,” Sil, a Kharadi resident, said.
Another resident Anshul Jadhav is also planning a trip next month. “I am not sure whether to book the tickets or wait till the runway closure dates are announced or if I should book a flight from Mumbai. Nowadays airlines take a lot of time to refund the ticket money and in many cases, they tell flyers to use it for future travel,” he said.
The total runway closure was supposed to happen in April and May, but was postponed after requests by the airport officials in view of the transport of vaccines from Pune. Airport sources told TOI earlier that the closure was expected after Diwali, but no dates had been provided. “The Indian Air Force (IAF), which manages the runway of the airport, is carrying out the work. They haven’t informed us about any specific dates. We know that the flyers must be confused,” Pune airport director Santosh Dhoke said.
26/09/21 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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