Pune International Airport (PIA) achieved a new milestone on Sunday, recording its highest-ever flight movement with 204 flights operating within 24 hours — 102 departures and 102 arrivals, as confirmed by airport officials.
Airport director Santosh Dhoke credited this achievement to the launch of the winter schedule on October 27, which introduced several new regional and international flights to the airport’s network.
According to a report in The Indian Express, this marked the first time in the airport’s history that it surpassed 200 flight movements in a single day. Prior to this, PIA had reached 200 flights on two occasions — September 16 and October 14 — just before the winter schedule began.
Pune airport sees consistent growth in passenger traffic
With increased connectivity to both domestic and international destinations, Pune airport has seen consistent growth in passenger traffic and flight operations. Dhoke explained that the expansion of local and national routes, facilitated by airlines and supported by slot allocations from the Airport Authority of India, has been a major factor in the rise of operations.
“With the start of the winter schedule, we introduced flights to various local destinations such as Bhopal and Indore, added two flights to South India, and increased services to Delhi. Additionally, the merger of Vistara and Air India has encouraged better slot utilisation,” he said.
Dhoke further explained that slot utilisation refers to the specific time allocated to airlines for their operations. In some cases, airlines fail to fully utilise these slots due to issues like low passenger traffic, crew shortages, or aircraft unavailability.
“Slot utilisation refers to the specific time allotted to airlines for their operations. However, in some cases, airlines fail to fully utilise these slots due to factors like low passenger traffic, a shortage of crew members, or aircraft unavailability,” added Dhoke.
He added that the boost in regional connectivity to places like Nanded, Sindhudurg, and Jalgaon has played a key role in improving slot utilisation, contributing to the airport’s record flight movements.