PUNE: The phenomenal passenger growth being experienced in the past at the Pune airport has continued in 2018-19 also. Strong demand, complemented by an increase in flights by the airport authorities, has resulted in the airport recording a remarkable growth in the number of flight movements, passenger and cargo traffic.
As per data provided by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), the passenger growth increased by 11.09 per cent in 2018-19 (YoY).
The cargo traffic has also increased by 14 per cent.
The Pune airport has also maintained the double-digit growth in air passengers recording a footfall of 90,70,816 as compared to the previous year’s figure of 81,64,840, thereby recording a Year on Year (YoY) positive growth of 11.09 per cent in 2018-19. This has been possible because of the sustained efforts taken by the AAI to add more destinations and services as per the demands of the passengers in Pune.
“This growth would have been higher if not for the significant flight cancellations witnessed at the Lohegaon airport by airlines like Lufthansa, Jet Airways, Spice Jet, Indigo, etc, due to various reasons such as operational, financial crisis, shortage of operating crew and most recently, due to grounding of Boeing 737 Max eight aircraft by the DGCA on safety grounds,” said Dhairyashil Vandekar, aviation expert & analyst.
Passenger growth has more than doubled in just four years when the airport witnessed a movement of 4,19,0509 passengers.
“Going by the huge demand and potential for air services from Pune, the air traffic will continue its upward movement for a lot many years. While the AAI on their part have been making efforts to improve the experience of passengers at the Lohegaon airport, the fact remains that Lohegaon, being a military airport, has certain limitations, which makes it incapable of meeting the long-term civil aviation needs of the city,” Vandekar said.
“Even today, this airport, with its severe space constraints, single runway, restricted apron area, limited parking area, congested and narrow approach roads, is not able to meet the demands of the city affecting its growth potential. The expansion of the terminal building will prove to be just a short term ‘patch-up job’ before we find its capacity being outpaced by Pune’s growth and demand. The urgent need is to fast-track the greenfield airport project for Pune and make it available latest by 2023. Otherwise, there is every chance that the air traffic estimates and calculations for this new airport may go awry because of the alternates that are fast coming up for passengers by way of several new airports emerging in the vicinity of Pune,” he added.
RISING CARGO MOVEMENT
The cargo loads have shown an impressive YoY growth of 14 per cent in 2018-19. The Lohegaon airport recorded a cargo movement of 47,391 MT in FY 2019 as compared to 41,566 MT the previous FY. One of the major factors, was the international cargo facility that was created by the AAI in June 2017. After initial hiccups, this facility is now settling with many regular cargo parties using it. The AAI, in its expansion plans, has a provision for a well-equipped modern cargo complex, which will further boost the direct domestic and international cargo movement from Pune.
MORE FLIGHTS
The aircraft movement has almost doubled in five years from 30,534 in 2013-14 to 59,870 in 2018-19. The number of aircraft movements has increased by 6.8 per cent as compared to 2017-18 when it was 56,021. It is to the credit of the AAI that in spite of severe operational restrictions at the Lohegaon airport, they have accommodated 3,849 more flights in 2018-19 as compared to the previous year.
