PUNE: The winter schedule of the Pune airport at its start from October 30, still reflexes many empty slots.
According to a press release issued by the airport, of the total of 218 slots allocated by IAF from Monday to Friday, 200 allocated were to airlines. On Saturday, of 220 approved slots, just 162 had been allocated. And on Sunday, it stands at 247 approved slots against 207 allotted.
The winter schedule starts from October 30 and goes on till March last week next year.
The Pune airport officials said that apart from the already announced international flights to Singapore and Bangkok by Vistara and SpiceJet, slots had been approved for IndiGo for connections to Singapore and Doha. However the dates were still to be announced by the airline, Santosh Dhoke, the Pune airport director said in a press release.
The press release further said, "Pune is now connected to Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Goa (both Dabolim and new MOPA Airport), Indore, Patna, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Tirupati, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kochi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Guwahati, Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhavnagar, Nashik, Raipur, Mangaluru, Visakhapatnam etc."
No official word on how many new connections to Pune airport is going to get came from any official. However a source in the airport said, “All domestic sectors are same as earlier except Goa (MOPA).
International new sectors are Bangkok and Singapore. Confirmation of date for Indigo flight to Doha has not been received yet.”
Akasa Airlines, which is new, will start their first flight on the Pune-Bengaluru-Pune sector from November 14. Vistara starts its International flight on the Pune-Singapore-Pune from December 2.
"Indigo has also been allocated slots on the Pune-Doha and Pune-Singapore sector and dates for start of these flights is still awaited," the press release said.
"The number of slots has also increased. IAF has approved 218 movements (Arrival + Departure) from Monday to Friday out of which 200 movements have been allocated to Airlines. Similarly on Saturday out of 220 movements approved, 162 movements have been allocated. On Sunday out of 247 movements approved , 203 movements have been allocated to Airlines," the release added.
