Air Force to give 18 acres land for Pune airport expansion
New Delhi – The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the Indian Air Force (IAF) will give 18 acres of additional land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for the expansion of the Pune airport in Lohegaon. The AAI has already approved Rs 408 crore for new terminal building equipped with high-tech infrastructure.
Defence Manohar Parrikar assured about the transfer of land to a delegation of Pune district guardian minister Girish Bapat, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, Pune MP Anil Shirole and AAI member S Raheja.
Earlier IAF had approved 15.84 acres land but keeping in mind rising load on the airport, it has been decided to give 18 acres land for expansion.
The number of air travellers using the airport has reached about 60 lakhs per year.
The Pune airport is a part of the Indian Air Force’s Lohegaon air base and currently handles 126 civil aircraft movements. It has eight parking bays, two of which are reserved for VVIPs, emergency movement, non-scheduled aircraft and the remaining six handle nearly 64 flights every day.The Lohegaon airport is part of the defence air field controlled by the IAF. The air field is a base for the IAF’s frontline Sukhoi fighter aircraft. The Air Force Station (AFS) controls the runway and air traffic control (ATC).
