Pune airport closure irks passengers

More than 50,000 Pune-bound passengers will have to either cancel or re-schedule their journey plans as the Pune international airport will remain shut for 15 days from February 12 following the ongoing runway re-carpetting project.

The Pune airport, governed by the Indian Air Force (IAF), turned international from December 12, 2005. Since then, it has faced issues like poor infrastructure, and unavailability of flying slots due to IAF operations.

The airport, since September 2007, is operating for eight hours a day as the IAF is re-carpetting the entire runway that had taken a lot of beating due to increased civil air traffic.

More than 100,000 passengers utilise this airport every month and hence, the two-week long closure is expected to affect at least 50,000 Pune-bound air passengers.

This has irked not just the general passengers and the business fraternity, but also executives of various airlines.

"The number of cancellations has suddenly increased and we have to face the angry passengers. Availability of flying slots has been a pending issue for quite some time. And now, the entire airport will be shut for 15 days," an executive of Jet Airways said.

The Airports Authority of India had informed all the private airlines over the closure in December last year.

"We start flight bookings three months in advance. Hence, a lot of tickets have already been booked. Cancellation of tickets and issuing refunds have suddenly increased the workload," said a sales executive of SpiceJet.

Zensar managing director Ganesh Natrajan said the development had come as a shock to the business community.

"Runway restrictions is an old issue. But if the airport is shut for 15 days, a lot of passengers from Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad will have problems," he said.

The closure is also expected to hit cargo transport worth 200-tonne in these 15 days.