Decks cleared for runway extension, international flights at Pune Airport

In a major meeting held on Tuesday in Delhi by the minister of state for civil aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, the obstacle limitation survey (OLS) received a positive response, clearing the decks for extension of the runway and consequently international flight operations at Pune Airport.
The high-level technical meeting regarding runway expansion and construction of other facilities at Pune Airport was held on Tuesday at the union ministry of civil aviation, Delhi, under Mohol’s chairmanship. “Happily, for the people of Pune, the OLS report for the runway extension is positive and this will pave the way for international flights from Pune Airport after completing some technical issues,” Mohol said.
“To promote international flights from Pune, code ‘E’ aircraft can be operated. In this regard, some technical aspects have to be completed and this meeting was organised for that purpose. The OLS to review the feasibility of this expansion has been completed at record speed. Also, it is a matter of happiness for the people of Pune as the results of this survey are found to be positive,” Mohol said.
“In this meeting, land acquisition from the state government, transfer of land from the ministry of defence, apron area, runway length, new terminal building and other issues related to Pune Airport were discussed. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) was instructed to cooperate and coordinate with the ministry of defence and the state government by carrying out other surveys related to this project,” said Mohol.
Also present at the meeting were the secretary of the ministry of civil aviation Vumlunmang Vualnam; additional secretary of the ministry of defence Deepti Mohil Chawla; chairperson of the AAI M Suresh; Pune divisional commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar; group captain Manoj Rana; air marshal Y K Dixit; director of Pune Airport Santosh Dhoke; and other officials.
Aviation expert Dhairyashil Vandekar said, “It is heartening to know that the OLS survey is positive, paving the way for the Pune Airport runway extension. Pune city has been demanding this for more than a decade now as in the absence of a sufficiently long runway, wide body aircraft are unable to operate from Pune Airport, depriving the city of international air connectivity to Europe, USA etc. Though the decks have been cleared for the runway extension, it will take some time before the extension actually happens. I had also earlier suggested that for the operation of ‘E’ category aircraft, the airport will need infrastructural, technical, safety and other operational upgrading, especially at the airport terminal. It will also be quite challenging for the airport administration to carry out these upgrades without affecting the increasing flight operations at Pune, which the industry and commerce of the city can ill afford. I welcome this development and look forward to speedy completion of the runway extension and other work so that Pune truly attains the status of a global city.”
The OLS of Pune Airport was completed at the end of July this year. A special team from AAI Delhi flew into Pune to conduct the survey. Over a period of 10 days, high buildings, trees etc. were inspected in the surrounding area along with the take off point and landing point. A drawing was also attached to the report.
Currently, the length of the Pune Airport runway is 2,535 metre (8,316 feet) while the width is 45 metre. Five hundred metre of space is required on the eastern side of the runway, and 300 metre on the western side. If the runway is extended by about 800 metre, the total length will be about 10,940 feet. If the length of the runway is within 11,000 feet, even big planes can land at Pune Airport. For this, an expenditure of around ₹160 crore is expected on acquisition of the site.