New terminal of Pune airport ready for inauguration; Central Ministry approval awaited

After shifting, the old terminal will be shut for renovation

By: Pune Pulse

December 16, 2023

Pune: After operations are moved to the newly constructed terminal, which is prepared for inauguration, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) intends to close the current terminal building of Pune Airport for renovation. The inauguration of the new terminal is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

As per further information, it will take the AAI six more weeks to hold tests to inspect if everything in the new terminal building is working or not before moving its operations to the new terminal building.

A senior Pune airport official said that the airport is awaiting the central ministry’s nod to inaugurate its new terminal building. They have informed the higher authorities of this as well. After the inauguration, system testing will start, and the entire procedure should take six weeks to finish. Thorough system checks and approval from national and international regulatory agencies will be part of the testing process.

After being operational, these systems will need to operate around the clock. They would not want them to experience any issues once the new building is used for operations. The suppliers of the equipment, including those from abroad, will also be a part of the tests.

However, there have been some delays as the completion deadline & inauguration have been rescheduled several times

As per a senior official of Pune airport, while the new terminal building will be able to accommodate 12 million passengers, the current terminal can only accommodate 7.1 million passengers annually. The current terminal needs to be renovated.

It hasn’t had any maintenance in a while because it was carrying more passengers than it could accommodate. Hence, after the inauguration of the new terminal building, they will vacate the current terminal building and renovate it.

Shreyas Vange