The flight operations at Pune airport, which were temporarily closed for fourteen days to complete the runway resurfacing work, will resume from tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
"Flight Operations will resume at #PuneAirport w.e.f. 30-Oct-2021. Please note that flights will operate from 08:00am to 08:00 pm from 30-Oct-21 to 30-Nov-21," a tweet from the official handle of Pune airport read. "In view of expected rush due to festive season, pls reach the Airport 2-3 hours before departure," it added.
Pune airport also tweeted a list of flights scheduled for tomorrow and requested the passengers to reconfirm timings from the concerned airline.
Pune airport Director Santosh Dhoke said the embargo on night flights (8 pm to 8 am) will continue for a while as the work being undertaken by the Indian Air Force (IAF) is not yet over, reported the Indian Express. "I am hoping the night slots will be opened for civil flights by December 1,” he added.
Earlier, the airport was closed for fourteen days from October 16 to October 29 to complete the runway resurfacing work. The IAF, which manages the runway operations, said that due to the rapidly deteriorating condition of the runway and associated operating sufaces at the Air Force Station, Pune, the runway resurfacing had become urgent.
Partial closure of the runway was done for 12 hours daily during night from October 26, 2020, to October 25, 2021, for the works, in order to cause the least disturbance to civil aviation.
"A 14-day complete closure was planned from April 26 till May 9, 2021 to undertake the resurfacing of the central bitumen portion of the runway. However, due to emergent requirement of transport of COVID-19 vaccines, The Ministry of Defence had directed to defer the complete closure of runway," IAF had said in a statement.
"The exact dates of closure from October 16 to October 29 2021 could be promulgated only after the requisite approvals were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and The Ministry of Defence. As per the present plan, flight operations would resume from October 30 2021, before the Diwali festival," the statement had added.
