PUNE: The Pune Airport at Lohegaon is on the Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) priority list for development and the design for the new terminal building was approved recently. After completion of the building, the airport will be ultramodern, said the Pune Airport authority. The passenger growth in April was 29 per cent, which indicated that the 10 million passenger mark could be achieved this year.
AAI issued a tender inviting bids for construction of a new integrated terminal building, reconstruction of the old terminal building and modification of the existing expanded terminal building of Pune airport.
“The design of the new terminal building was approved recently. The new terminal building will have state-of-the-art facilities. The building will be ultramodern and will cater to both domestic and international fliers. We will have a presentation of the new building about the look, arrival, departure areas, seating arrangements, elevators, escalators and other amenities,” Ajay Kumar, Director of Pune Airport said. The construction of terminal building, which will be 42,000 sq mt, has a budget of Rs 400 crore.
A Project Management Consultant was appointed in May 2017 and tendering work for the new integrated terminal building is in process. It will take 24 months to complete the project.
“Everything is managed by the AAI and when the terminal building will be completed it will Compete with other airports. The building will have better space for fliers and better amenities. There will be separate departures for international and domestic fliers,” said Kumar.
As per the design approved by AAI, which is with Sakal Times, there will be two runways, more apron area, a parking bay for airplanes, automatic gate for entry inside security hold area and more restaurants and food outlets. The cargo terminal will be under the basement area. Apart from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt, there will flights for Thailand and Malaysia. “We are positive that the work will be start in July as our chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra has shown personal interest in development of the new terminal building,” said Kumar.