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New terminal building of Pune Airport becomes operational 4 months after inauguration
The new terminal building of Pune Airport became operational on Sunday — four months after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — with two airlines commencing their operations from the facility.Pessengers boarded into the first flight in presence of Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Pune MP Murlidhar Mohol on Sunday afternoon.
Nine arrivals and nine-departures were scheduled from the new building on the first day.
Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke said that the two airlines will operate about 16 arrivals and same number of departures everyday from Monday.
The first passengers to board the Pune-Delhi Air India flight AI-858 and Air India Express Pune-Bhubaneshwar flight I5 320 were felicitated by MoS Mohol.
“It’s a matter of great joy for me and a moment of pride for Punekars that the new terminal building which provides a large facility to meet the growing needs of Pune flyers and also pays tribute to Pune’s history and culture is now being operationalized. In last ten years great aviation infrastructure has been created in the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and India has become the third largest aviation sector in the world,” said Mohol.
Lieutenant Colonel Manisha, the first passenger who was felicitated by Mohol, thanked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the government for creating the new terminal building that will provide better facilities to the flyers.
The AAI plans to shift the operations of remaining airlines — there are total eight airlines that operate from Pune Airport— to the new building in phases.
The shifting is expected to be completed by the end of the first week of August. The operationalization of the new building was getting delayed for last few weeks because of the shortage of CISF personnel at the airport.
The airport has a sanctioned strength of 724 CISF personnel but only about 453 persons were deployed at the airport until recently.
After the new terminal building was constructed to cater to the growing need of the flyers, the AAI had requested the CISF to deploy more persons as the new terminal building is larger and that the transition will require deployment at both buildings. The existing terminal building with built-up area of 22,000 square meters has a passengers handling capacity of 7 million per annum.
The new building with a built up area of 52,000 square meters has a passenger handling capacity of 9 million per annum, officials said.
Source: The Indian Express
