The resurfacing work, started in October 2020, had already limited civil operations only to daytime. The 14-day closure of Pune airport for runway resurfacing work announced earlier will not happen in April-May this year, said officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI). The Indian Air Force had earlier announced that it will undertake runway resurfacing work between April 26 and May 9, due to which all flight operations will remain suspended during the two-week period.
Pune airport is a civil enclave operating from the IAF station of Lohegaon, the primary function of which is to train IAF pilots by undertaking sortie operations. Although Pune is in the process of developing its own international airport in Purandar, issues pertaining to land acquisition has delayed the project.
“The scheduled closure of flights will not happen between April 26 and May 9… IAF has conveyed to us that the runway resurfacing work will be carried out a later date,” said an AAI official. “
The resurfacing work, started in October 2020, had already limited civil operations only to daytime. The airport remains shut for flights between 8 pm to 8 am.
The closure would have affected transport of vaccines manufactured in the city to different parts of the country. Most of the domestic transport – from Pune to other states – happens via Pune airport while the international dispatch is undertaken from Mumbai airport. It’s not clear if the issue of vaccination transport played any part in the decision to postpone the airport closure.
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