Due to the Air Force’s decision to resurrect the runway, Pune Airport will be closed for 14 days from October 16th to 30th. This means that during this period, no flight can take off or land at the airport.
Airport officials said that airlines will have to cancel all scheduled flights. “We have received a NOTAM (pilot notice) from the Air Force that the runway will be closed for work from 8pm on October 15th to 8am on October 30th,” an AAI official said. The Indian Air Force has previously announced that it will resurface the runway between April 26 and May 9.
The Air Force later told airport officials that the work had been delayed. Pune Airport is a civil enclave operated from the IAF station in Lohegaon. Its main function is to train IAF pilots through dispatch operations. Although Pune is developing its own international airport in Puranda, issues related to land acquisition have delayed the start of work.
The closure will have a huge impact on air transportation, which will be severely affected by the interstate travel restrictions during and after the second wave of Covid-19 infection, and it is slowly returning to normal.
News Source : The Indian Express
