Air India To Begin Operations From Pune Airport's New Terminal This Sunday

Air India will commence its operations from Pune Airport's new terminal at 1pm on Sunday, July 14, the company said in a statement.

"Air India will commence its operations from Pune's New Integrated Terminal Building (NITB) starting from 1300 hours on 14th July 2024. Air India will be one of the first airlines to have all its operations from the NITB at Pune Airport. Air India has six daily departures from Pune to Delhi (DEL) and Bengaluru (BLR)," the statement read.

Along with Air India, Air India Express will also begin its operations from Pune Airport's new terminal on Sunday.

Air India flight AI–858 (Pune–Delhi) will be the first flight to depart from the new terminal with Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol felicitating the first passenger by handing him/her the boarding pass.

Mohol on Monday announced that the new terminal will open from July 14. This came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah approved the additional 222 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel needed to commence operations.

Built at a cost of ₹423 crore and spanning 51,595 square metres, the new terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March this year. However, its operationalisation was held up because the demand for additional CISF personnel hadn't been met yet.

The new terminal has a passenger handling capacity of 9 million passengers per annum and a peak hour capacity of 3,000 passengers, a significant improvement over the existing terminal's capacity of 7.7 million per annum and a peak hour capacity of 2,400 passengers.

Meanwhile, Santosh Dhoke, Pune Airport Director, stated that the remaining airlines operating at Pune Airport will start operation from the new building in a phased manner. "We aim to complete the shifting by August 5," he said.