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The Pune Airport has space for parking only 10 aircraft.(Photo: Punekar News)
An Air India flight from Pune to Delhi met with an accident on May 16, and the aircraft was kept in parking bay number 1 for one-and-a-half months.
With limited parking space at the Pune Airport, airlines face difficulties such as delayed boarding, flight delays, and longer waiting times, causing inconvenience to passengers.
This issue has been a recurring problem since faulty aircrafts are parked in its existing parking bay and other passenger planes have to wait for parking availability, leading to delays in flights.
Hence, to combat this issue, the Pune Airport Authority of India (AAI) has come up with a solution of creating a separate space or ‘remote bay’ at the airport. The Pune AAI has sent a letter to headquarters requesting additional space as a ‘remote bay’ at Lohegaon Pune Airport for parking aircrafts.
As of now, the Pune Airport has space for parking only 10 aircrafts. When ground aircraft are parked in the existing parking space for seven to eight days or sometimes even a month, passenger planes are adversely effected. Sometimes, passenger flights are instructed to ‘go around’ and they hover over the airport till the time they receive instructions to land. There are also times when passengers are not allowed to exit the plane even after landing at the airport.
While speaking to the Hindustan Times, a frequent flyer named Vipul Alekar shared, “I often travel from Pune Airport and many a time when the flight is landing, we have to wait till it gets space to park. Sometimes, the flight hovers over the airport till it gets landing instructions. It will certainly be beneficial for everyone if new parking bays are added.”
It is worth noting that an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi met with an accident on May 16, and the aircraft was kept in parking bay number 1 for one-and-a-half months, restricting the passenger planes from using that space.
Hence, considering the problem, the administration has proposed three ‘remote bays’ that will eliminate the obstacles in travel. Remote bays are already available in a few airports across the country, such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Pune Airport director Santosh Dhoke stated, “Considering the number of parking bays, three ‘remote bays’ are proposed. However, additional space is required for that and the work of getting that space is underway. A remote bay will be provided at the Pune Airport location as space becomes available,” reported the Hindustan Times.
With this initiative, the airport authority is expecting to bring more efficiency in the scheduling of flights.
