With 170 trips, daily flight movements in Pune touch pre-Covid levels

PUNE: The Pune airport recorded 170 flight movements on Sunday and on three days in October, touching pre-Covid levels more than two years since the airport started functioning after the first wave of the pandemic.
On October 9, the airport recorded a total of 172 flight movements - 86 departures and as many arrivals. On October 7, the airport also recorded the same number of daily total flights. On October 6 and on October 2, too, the airport recorded a total of 170 flight movements. Before the pandemic, the total number of daily flight movements in Pune was around 170.
"Since October, the airport has been recording more flights, particularly on Sundays. One reason behind the same is the current festive season. With a greater number of people travelling, some airlines have increased frequencies, mainly to cities in the north like Delhi and some southern cities as well. The winter schedule of the airport is expected to be finalised by October 15 and more flights are likely to be added to the list," an airport official told TOI.
Domestic flight operations resumed across the country after the pandemic's first wave in May 2020. The number of daily flights at the Pune airport has been increasing since. "However, since the first lockdown, different variants of Covid like Delta and Omicron appeared, and it has not been a smooth sailing when it comes to increase in flight movements. It is now only that pre- pandemic levels have been reached. We are expecting the daily passenger movements to cross the pre-pandemic levels by Diwali this year. With the airport now operational 24X7, we are sure that the number of flights and passengers will increase. Steps have been taken to control the crowd," another airport official said.
Authorities added that with around 14 additional slots for the airport been granted by the defence ministry recently, airlines were expected to take advantage of the same.
"Some of these slots have been taken over by airlines and frequencies to some cities like Delhi have been increased owing to the festive season," the official pointed out.
The current daily passenger traffic at Pune airport is around 21,000-24,000 and is expected to increase. Before the pandemic, the daily traffic was around 31,000," the official said.