With 20.6 per cent growth in the number of passengers in 2017-18, the Pune airport has ranked third in the list of fastest growing Indian airports with an annual flier count of more than 5 million. A comparative study of the growth figures of other main airports of the country suggests that Pune airport registered the third highest growth percentage in passenger flow in 2017-18. It was ranked 10th in 2016-17. Officials with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said it was another milestone for the Pune airport that had been ranked third in global ASQ (airport service quality) survey held in March in the sub-category of airports handling 5 to 15 million passengers per year. Ajay Kumar, Director, Pune airport, said: “There are 10 airports above five million passengers in India. Out of those, Pune was at the ninth place with 8.16 million passengers in 2017-18. In terms of the growth rate, with 20.6 per cent, it stands at third place out of top 10 airports. Pune is the only airport operating with code C aircrafts. All other airports are capable of handling bigger aircrafts. Pune is at 7th place in domestic travel with 7.89 million passengers with growth rate of 21.2 per cent.” According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the aircrafts with a wingspan more than 24 m but less than 36 m consisting of aeroplanes such as BOEING 737-700, AIRBUS A-320 and EMBRAER ERJ 190-100 are considered C code aircrafts. “In terms of international and domestic traffic, we are maintaining our position. The top 10 airports include Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Pune, Goa, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The Kolkata airport ranks first, followed by Ahmedabad and Pune,” said Kumar. “Recently, we achieved 8.2 million passengers’ footfall and we are expecting 12.5 million in the next two years. Accordingly, we are converting non-public areas into public areas,” he said.
