Pune airport to remain shut from 16 to 29 Oct due to maintenance work; all commercial flights suspended

From 16 to 29 October, the Lohegaon International Airport in Pune will be completely closed for passengers. For these 14 days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be undertaking runway resurfacing work which was earlier supposed to take place in April this year but was postponed.

During this period, no flight will be able to take off or land at the airport. The IAF, which controls the air traffic and 2,530-metre runway, will be doing the re-carpeting. However, currently, the international airport is operating only passenger flights from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.

“I have been informed by the Indian Air Force (IAF) that the airport will remain closed from October 16 through to October 29,” informed Santosh Dhoke, director of Lohegaon airport. He further stated that flight operations will resume on 30 October from 8:00 am onwards.

Due to this closure, all commercial flights operating from Pune airport will remain suspended.

Moreover, an airport official (unnamed), asserted that post the shut-down for 14 days, the airport is likely to operate for 24 hours following its commencement. Also, the number of flights is expected to increase once the airport reopens as it will be Diwali time, so the air traffic will increase, the official added.

Taking to its social media handle, the airport made an announcement regarding the same. “This is to inform all passengers that as per information received from Indian Air Force (IAF), due to runway resurfacing works, all flights from Pune Airport will not operate for 14 days from 16 October 2021 to 29 October 2021," the tweet reads.

This is to inform all passengers that as per information received from Indian Air Force (IAF), due to runway resurfacing works, all flights from #PuneAirport will not operate for 14 days from 16 October 2021 to 29 October 2021.@AAI_Official @aairedwr @Pib_MoCA @DGCAIndia

— पुणे विमानतळ /Pune Airport (@aaipunairport) October 5, 2021

Earlier, the IAF had announced that it will be undertaking the runway resurfacing work between 26 April and 9 May but the work got postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19.

For the unversed, Pune Airport is a civil enclave that functions from the IAF station of Lohegaon . Furthermore, the primary function of the IAF station is to train pilots by undertaking sortie operations.