Pune: The scheduled fortnight-long closure of Pune Airport later this month will be the first such shutdown since 2008 when flights were grounded for two weeks to carry out maintenance works. At that time too, the Indian Air Force had carried out a recarpeting of the runway and had shut the airport for all civil flights for 15 days.
The Pune Airport is a civil enclave operating from the Indian Air Force station of Lohegaon which is used to train IAF pilots. Barring a few hours a day that are reserved for the training flights, the runway is made available to be used for civic operations managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The decision to shut down flight operations completely between October 16 and 30, announced by the AAI Tuesday, has evoked strong reactions from flyers, industrialists and others who have questioned the timing, which comes on the heels of the festival season, and the short notice of 10 days given by the authorities.
The airlines had booked flights during the period concerned and are now starting cancelling and refunding the amounts to the customers.
However, this is not the first time that such a closure – appalling as it seems for any international airport – is being effected at the Pune Airport. In 2008, the airport was shut for 14 days (from February 12 to 26) when the Air Force carried out runway recarpeting work. The closure, at that time, was said to have caused an estimated loss of Rs 15 crore to the airlines.
Dhairyashil Vandekar, aviation expert who was the then station manager of Air India, said when operations resumed after 14 days, passengers were welcomed with fresh roses at the arrival and departure terminals. “Air India and Flower Growers Association of Maharashtra had taken this initiative. It was greatly appreciated by the flyers and at the same time, it also highlighted the cargo export potential of the region which is a big producer of agricultural goods,” said Vandekar.
07/10/21 Atikh Rashid/Indian Express
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