PUNE: Several slots allocated to Jet Airways are still vacant -- Indore and Mumbai being the two prominent slots. The Pune airport is continuously asking airlines to start the flights, but airlines are not taking it seriously. 

Recently, Jodhpur and Coimbatore have been connected to Pune.  As all operations of Jet Airways have been cancelled, the Pune airport has been facing losses in terms of passenger revenue.  

Apart from this, some premier airlines, who were committed to start flights, are not showing interest now. 

There are many employees and students from Indore, who reside in Pune, while the flow of passengers between India’s commercial capital Mumbai and Pune has always been high. 

“Airlines have been requested to start these flights, but they are not showing any interest. The slots have been already given to them. The slots are still vacant and they must confirm whether they are going to start or not. If not, the slots will be handed over to other airlines,” said a senior officer of Airport Authority of India (AAI) from New Delhi. 

“Hundreds of passengers from Indore are waiting for a direct flight from Pune. The slots are vacant. A few months ago, one of the premier airlines was asked to start Pune-Allahabad flight, as the slot is vacant. Last year in December, the last flight for Patna took off from Pune airport. The airline had suspended the operation between these two cities, giving a reason for the odd time of arrival and departure,” he said. 

“The connection between Pune to Allahabad and Pune to Patna are still vacant. The airlines are citing reason of odd timings. This destination is in demand like Mumbai and Indore. It is up to the airline to start the service,” said the officer. 

“Because of the non-availability of these flights, many passengers are now forced to travel to these cities via other airports, which is not only very time consuming but also heavy on the pocket too, as they have to spend almost double the amount of the direct flight ticket fare,” said aviation expert and analyst Dhairyashil Vandekar.