This story is from September 16, 2019

After three-month lull, flyers’ footfall picks up at Pune airport

After three-month lull, flyers’ footfall picks up at Pune airport
Picture for representational purpose only.
PUNE: The Jet Airways crisis sparked a lull in domestic passenger traffic at the Lohegaon airport recently, but things seem to be on the up again.
As per data of the Airports Authority of India from January to July, there was a slowdown in passenger footfall at the facility between March and May. The report said Jet Airways’ folding, and the consequent empty slots, were partly to blame.

“While there are still some empty slots, we are quite upbeat about the upcoming winter schedule, as new domestic flights will be added. The domestic traffic was low for some months due to different factors, but things have now started to improve,” an airport official said.
“It happened mainly because of Jet Airways’ crisis, as the airline operated close to 20 flights at the airport. Since then, many slots have been taken up by other airlines, like Air India. With the winter schedule starting from October-end, we do expect a major jump,” another official said.
Early morning slots are hard to come by at the airport as commercial flight operations are suspended from 8am to 10.30am from Sunday to Friday to facilitate practice sessions of the Indian Air Force.
One official hinted that discussions were on to arrive at some sort of compromise. “If an agreement is reached, we could get close to 20 additional slots during the morning hours,” the official added.
Another official said the airport authorities were exploring the possibility of starting a direct flight between Pune and Mumbai.

“The lack of a direct flight is a concern, as the airport loses a major chunk of business flyers. Talks with airlines on this issue are ongoing and hopefully, a flight between the two cities will soon be started,” the official said.
Experts said the airport needs to concentrate on the low-cost UDAN scheme to boost domestic connections.
“The airport could get 3-4 more flights easily from the scheme. In the cost-intensive Indian civil aviation scenario, it’s only natural for the airlines to operate only on lucrative routes. It is the responsibility of the regulatory body to ensure the UDAN slots are allotted to airlines that will be able to operate flights on the routes,” aviation analyst Dhairyashil Vandekar said.
New direct flight to Kolkata
An airport official told TOI that low-cost carrier Air Asia was expected to start a direct flight to Kolkata from Pune by the end of October. The official said the daily flight, which is expected to start on October 27, will take off from Pune at 10.55pm and land in Kolkata at 1.40am. On the return leg, the flight will depart from Kolkata at 7.30pm and reach Pune at 10.30pm. Pune has four direct connections to Kolkata.
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