Lohegaon airport expansion gets green signal, international airport remains grounded

The plan to develop a new airport at Chakan or Khed or any other remains on paper. While the guardian minister for Pune District, Girish Bapat, and Union Minister for Road Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, have claimed that they are taking ‘active interest’ in the project, there’s no concrete development so far. While the civil aviation department is positive about the project, the hurdle is finding a suitable land allotment.

Expansion of Lohegaon airport

The only ‘goodnews’ that came in 2015 was the announcement by the defence ministry approving the use of additional 15 acres at Lohegaon Airport for the expansion of facilities. Airport officials say that although it would take four-five months for physical work to commence, the details of handing over the land from defence land to AAI are being worked out. “The handing over of land has started,” says Ajay Kumar, director, Lohegaon Airport.

Need for new airport

Aviation expert and former Air India official Dhairyasheel Vandekar says, the phenomenal passenger and cargo growth needs to be complemented with world-class facilities and newer domestic and international connections. Delay in making such facilities may prove a severe setback to the trade and commerce, adds Vandekar.

Issues with existing airport

Vandekar says that there are several pending demands to be taken up which include setting up of a full-fledged cargo complex with custom facilities for import-export of international cargo, a cold storage for perishable cargo like flowers, vegetables, fruits, vaccines and medicines and equipping the medical cell in the airport with critical care facility.

Without own airport, how is it smart city?

Alok Shetty, a businessman from Model Colony, says, “The situation is such that since it’s primarily a defence airport, there are a number of limitations. The fact that the flights are not able to take off and land most part of the day is quite an unsmart thing to have.”

Political will can get city a new airport 

all these years, the city did not get an independent airport. There is a lack of political will. The government seems to fail to comprehend the urgency to have an independent airport. For Pune, to even qualify as a ‘smart city’, what needs to be done in 2016 is an independent airport.

Tremendous limitations due to Air Force operations

The existing airport has tremendous limitations due to the Air Force operations. We want at least 100 landings and 100 take offs from the airport. Presently, we can only facilitate 45 landings and 45 take-offs. Even going to or coming from Mumbai is such a big hassle. The traffic potential between the two cities is such that we can have a shuttle service operating every hour. Because of this handicap, we lose out connecting to many international destinations. By 2016, we will manage to get 15 acres of land from the defence authorities, and we are hoping that this will bring in some relief. However, this will only serve the purpose for two to three years.

Developing international cargo capacity

At present, international cargo traffic is not taking place at all. Due to this, the industry is suffering. Presently, there are three services to international destinations, however, the belly of the aircraft leave and land empty. This is because, the airport doesn’t have infrastructure for cargo operations. This is a major loss to the airline industry. Both Airport Director and MCCIA are making efforts to get the facility at the existing airport in 2016.

Independent airport

Whatever land is being made available by defence now and four aprons that will be developed there will not be enough for us. The need is much more. The area too is so congested that it takes about 20 minutes to half an hour to exit the airport after landing. The airport, space is less and road is narrow while the traffic is ever increasing. The only solution to these problems is to get an independent airport. I feel so frustrated that a city which is contributing so much to the GDP is not getting the basic necessity. No city in the world can call itself a smart city if it doesn’t have enough infrastructure to meet the connectivity needs.

Land acquisition for new airport

There’s a lack of political will to get the work on an independent airport done. Every time we ask them, they say people are against the land acquisition or come up with another reason. This is unbelievable. If you are ready to pay them good compensation and address the fears, it can happen quickly. For example, some years ago, Chandigarh decided to get an aiport.

They acquired the land in a week and about two months prior, it was opened for public. The land in Punjab is more expensive in comparison to Maharashtra.

In the past, we have lost major industrial units to Hyderabad and Bangalore, and we definitely need better air connectivity.

2016 will be a year of great success if we get closer to getting an independent airport.

SK Jain is the former president of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture