After a delay of five years and missed deadlines, the new airport terminal at Lohegaon Airport in Pune is set to be inaugurated in September and will begin operations in October.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has shared this information, citing the need for expansion due to the exponential increase in flight operations from Pune Airport in recent years. As a result, the new integrated terminal building (NITB) project was initiated.
According to an official statement from the AAI, the construction of the NITB at Pune Airport is currently underway and is expected to be completed in September 2023.
The commissioning of the terminal is planned for October 2023. The project has a total cost of Rs 475 crores.
The existing terminal building with a built-up area of only 22,300 sqm can handle up to seven million passengers per annum (MPPA).
To ease congestion and cater to future growth, AAI has undertaken the state-of-the-art new terminal with a massive built-up area of more than 5,00,000 sq. ft.
AAI officials have stated that the new terminal building is nearly 95 per cent complete. Various departments have already started conducting trial runs of different systems and operations.
The NITB will have a total built-up area of 50,000 square metres and will feature 10 aerobridges and 72 check-in counters. Three of the aerobridges will connect the old and new terminal buildings.
Once the new terminal building is completed, the airport’s total area will expand to 74,300 square metres, compared to the current area of 22,300 square metres. The NITB project was awarded to ITD Cementation India Ltd, with France-based ‘Egis’ serving as a consultant.
Hindustan Times report that the AAI has been carrying out the expansion work, which began in December 2018 and was initially expected to be completed by the end of 2022. However, after several extensions, the work is finally nearing completion.
The swanky new integrated terminal building (including the old building) will be centrally air-conditioned with ten passenger boarding bridges, 72 check-in counters, and an in-line baggage handling system.
To give a permanent solution to the parking issue, a multilevel car park with a capacity for parking 1024 cars is under construction at the cost of Rs 120 crore. It is likely to be commissioned by July 2022.