PUNE: Mangesh Gaikwad and his wife have taken advantage of Ganesh Chaturthi and the long weekend to pay a visit to his brother in Delhi.
“Things looked better this time. Last year, we were holed up in our homes. We arrived in Delhi on Thursday on a quick visit. Our plan is to take the morning flight to Pune on Monday and join work the same day. Such quick getaways have become important, especially during these trying times,” he said.
The passenger traffic at the Pune airport, which jumped to around one lakh in the first week of September, shows that a lot of people are travelling, taking advantage of the start of the festive season. “The number of flights has seen a rise, giving people more options to travel. Three new flights to Ranchi, Tirupati and Thiruvananthapuram have started, and the airport is witnessing a lot of arrivals and departures,” an airport official told TOI.
“The passenger traffic (from September 1-8) has increased by 27% compared to the same period last month. The issue of crowding at the terminal building exists, but we are taking care of it and doing our best. We have had a detailed meeting with all airlines and other stakeholders on crowd control,” another official said.
Nilesh Bhansali, director, Travel Agents Association of Pune, said short getaway destinations have picked up rapidly. “The maximum days that people want to stay is five. I have confirmed bookings for at least 80 people, who have either gone or are set to go to places like as Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Coorg, Hyderabad etc,” he said.
Some flyers, however, had complaints about the Pune airport. “They quickly need to do something about the security check area. I have travelled for business twice in the last 10 days and witnessed crowd and chaos each time,” Rachit Kayal, a business flyer, said.
