New International Airport At Pune Gets Closer To Reality With Civil Aviation Ministry Giving Giving Clearance To Site

The proposed new airport for Pune in Maharashtra yesterday (8 May) received clearance for its location from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, according to civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu.

The new airport is a greenfield airport that will come up along the southern outskirts of the city, near the villages of Saswad and Purandar.

The existing airport at Pune – a civil enclave operated out of the Lohegaon Air Force Station – has reached its saturation point and faces difficulty in operations due to constraints imposed by the Indian Air Force (IAF). The hunt for land to build a new airport has been on for over a decade with the site finally being finalised in 2016 by Chief Minnister Devendra Fadnavis.

In January, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra had said that the IAF had given its nod to build the new airport.

Named the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje Airport, the new airport will come up at Pargaon-Memane, close to Saswad and Purandar. It is the second major airport being developed in the state after the Navi Mumbai International Airport that is currently being developed at a rapid pace. Maharashtra has also given the green signal to build a new airport in Vidharba, at Chandrapur, around 150 km south of Nagpur.

Also Read: The Promise Of Pune’s New Airport: How It Can Change The City’s Fortunes