The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has demanded 2.5 acres land from the defence ministry at Lohegaon, to increase the capacity of cargo facilities, and connect with more international destinations. Accordingly, the process to move the cargo facilities at this new space within the Pune airport premises has been started by AAI.
Once the terminal is operational from March 2023, the capacity of this new cargo terminal will be 36,000 metric tonnes, from the current capacity of 25,000 metric tonnes.
The newly built multi-storeyed parking lot at Lohegaon airport is expected to be operational from next month as it’s work is in final stage.
The new cargo facility will be monitored by AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company, informed AAI.
“Currently the work of new terminal building for the passenger facilities is going on at the airport premises, and we have started the work of shifting the old cargo terminal to the new space. Once the shift is complete, the capacity of daily cargo transportation will increase considerably and we can connect with more domestic and international destinations,” said
Santosh Doke, Director, Pune airport
Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, on his visit to Pune last month had said, “We are working on the cargo sector as well, as of now our current capacity of cargo transportation in Pune is 25,000 metric tonnes, out of which 17,000 is domestic and 7,500 international cargo. Our plan is to put in place an international air cargo terminal in Pune which would be ready by December 2024. But we would not wait until then, so we are putting in place an ‘interim integrate air cargo terminal’ which will be ready by March 2023.The interim facility allow us to bridge the gap between the current limited facility and the integrated terminal which we will set up in the time to come.”
