Pune: Airport authorities here have pledged to take up proposals of flight operations by foreign airlines with the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
"We will welcome foreign airlines interested to connect their cities to the Pune airport. If any such proposal comes, we will certainly look into it pursue the issue with the authorities," an airport official said.
The Pune airport has been witnessing only four international flights — two to Dubai (Air India and SpiceJet), one to Abu Dhabi (Jet Airways) and one to Frankfurt (Lufthansa) — since long now.
An Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) report states that though the Pune airport is on track for a record growth in terms of domestic passenger movements in the next three fiscals until 2021, its growth in the international circuit is "decent" but "not as big" compared to the domestic segment (see graphics).
"The international segment cannot be ignored when it comes to all-round development of the Pune airport," another airport official said.
A senior official with SpiceJet, which operates an international flight from Pune, said, "Every airline has a team that constantly explores options of increasing flights, both domestic and international, from different airport,s including Pune. It all depends on what the airline has in terms of destinations and what route suits best. As far as Pune is concerned, the routes to places such as Colombo, Kabul or Dhaka are not great."
He added, "The maximum traffic to the Gulf countries is from the south. If there is a proper load factor, the airlines can explore opportunities and act. For any airline, the load factor has to be checked first and a call can be taken then."
Aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar said there were other factors too. "Constraints of being a defence airfield and lack of competitive world-class infrastructure for international operations are some of the factors leading to the lack of proper international connectivity from Pune. Another major reason is the comparatively short single runway at the airport."
"We will welcome foreign airlines interested to connect their cities to the Pune airport. If any such proposal comes, we will certainly look into it pursue the issue with the authorities," an airport official said.
The Pune airport has been witnessing only four international flights — two to Dubai (Air India and SpiceJet), one to Abu Dhabi (Jet Airways) and one to Frankfurt (Lufthansa) — since long now.
An Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) report states that though the Pune airport is on track for a record growth in terms of domestic passenger movements in the next three fiscals until 2021, its growth in the international circuit is "decent" but "not as big" compared to the domestic segment (see graphics).
"The international segment cannot be ignored when it comes to all-round development of the Pune airport," another airport official said.
A senior official with SpiceJet, which operates an international flight from Pune, said, "Every airline has a team that constantly explores options of increasing flights, both domestic and international, from different airport,s including Pune. It all depends on what the airline has in terms of destinations and what route suits best. As far as Pune is concerned, the routes to places such as Colombo, Kabul or Dhaka are not great."
He added, "The maximum traffic to the Gulf countries is from the south. If there is a proper load factor, the airlines can explore opportunities and act. For any airline, the load factor has to be checked first and a call can be taken then."
Aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar said there were other factors too. "Constraints of being a defence airfield and lack of competitive world-class infrastructure for international operations are some of the factors leading to the lack of proper international connectivity from Pune. Another major reason is the comparatively short single runway at the airport."
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