Airliners-India.com

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

http://tinyurl.com/yhxr8v

To quote briefly from the article:
This could not have come at a better time. Airline passengers facing erratic flight schedules and inordinate delays may get some respite with the government planning to allow civilian airlines to use defence airspace and airport infrastructure.

The civil aviation ministry has signed an agreement with the defence ministry for building synergies between defence and civilian airports. The broad proposal is to maximise the air space utilisation in the Indian skies. The agreement will enable the domestic carriers to use defence airfields when not in use. The two ministries have carved out five zones — North, South, East, West and Central — to facilitate cooperation among them.

I understand that Pune Lohegaon airport has 2 runways. Also, looking at Google Earth, there seem to be two aprons for military airplanes, along with the tiny civil enclave.
I think if one of the aprons can be utilized for civil aircraft and a large terminal built around it, this could alleviate the expansion problems for Pune (albeit temporarily)
Any thoughts from the well-informed ? Also, Pune could do with extension of its 8000feet (approx) runway. Also, a 2 storey terminal with Departure at the Upper level (need not have aerobridges, pax can use Descanding-escalators to waiting buses, saves cost and parking space for planes).
Arrival at Lower Level (makes full use of the Lower Level, allowing more arrivals to be processed with more baggage conveyors)

Could this be a good model for developing domestic terminals at airports in India ?

What do you think ? - Serious comments (and a little sarcasm) welcome! Wink

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Your right but the thing is it is all dependant on the whims and Fancies of the IAF but considering the traffic from pune 3-4 international carriers would work out to be sufficient

i went to see off my parents today morning and noticed that the airport infrastructure is getting better and better. At this particular moment 2 more foreign carriers can fit in with 3 - 4 weekly frequencies

Regarding the runway they really need it to make it compatible for A330 and B777 so that majority of the carriers can operate the international airlines looking forward to operate to pune are

Srilankan -- Can start immediately as they would operate A320 s on this
route

Thai airways -- Can start as well they can use A300 or B737 on this
route

Lufthansa -- maybe once the runway becomes compatible for
A330/A340 they can come in

COUGAR · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Bangalore

The other aprons are all reserved for military use.

One section of one of the 2 military aprons has been taken over by RAW (u see a HS748 and a Gulftream type jet operate quite freq from there), so a section of RWY32 end is used as an apron to park Mig-29's. Which means it is inop.

There is place to expand the civil apron on either side and build a new GA cum cargo apron (highly reqd) in the North-West quadrant. Shifting GA to another apron will free up even more space for expansion of the civil apron. I think after expansion, upto 2 A340 type widebodies, 3 (2 remote) narrowbodies and 2 ATR type (both remote) stands can be accomodated with the existing visitors gallery becoming the arrivals area with jetways. We need to not only increase its length to atleast 11000 feet (land already acquired), but also strengthen the runway to allow for high-frequency ops. In addition to increase runway capacity, we need to build a new taxiway that runs parallel to 10/28 on the southern side and crosses 14/32 to provide access to 28. Right now aircraft wanting to takeoff have to wait in the apron till landing aircraft has finished its taxi and entered the apron. You have to see the gymnastics on the Pune airport apron in the evening to know what I am talking about! Merely building a taxiway will dramatically increase RWY capacity.

The biggest constraint however is the lack of slots. PNQ is a full fledged IAF base, and one of the largest at that, essential to provide 2-min interception coverage to Mumbai and Bombay High. Which means a restriction on available slots. The only way out of this, is to shift the IAF out of Pune and move them to Nashik, which has three almost unused airfields. This will retain and even improve the 2-min interception ability, plus freeing up Pune for civilian traffic.

But who listens to COUGAR! Smile

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himmat01 · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: DEL

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

Quite Frankly, I see "limited" potential for having any air base to provide the 2-min interception capability for Mumbai or Bombay High. I mean,
I seriously dont think any enemy air force would arrive undetected from anywhere under radar silence and the need to counterstrike the enemy much earlier than lets say, 50nm off Mumbai is paramount- given that there are a lot of Air-surface strike weapons that can be launched from long range.
I seriously dont think the IAF operates the Pune AFB with the objective of dangling with enemy planes over the skies of Mumbai-if the enemy planes reach Mumbai, there is no point!!

But that is a topic for the Military forum.

But comments welcome!

JumboJet · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:41 pm Post subject:

I remember that there was some talk in ICAO and IATA circles that an airport was planned at Hinjewadi?

Whatever happened to that Wink

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COUGAR · Member Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Posts: 986 Location: Bangalore

Not an airport but a Helipad. And the area selected was Baner. This would help service the IT park in Hinjawadi as well as the PCMC area. It would also help visiting VIP's to bypass the road netowrk and directly fly from the airport to this helipad which is close to the Raj-Bhawan as well. This would save Punk-kars from the hassle of traffic being closed off whenver any VIP passed thru/

The place is unofficially operational actually and is regularly used by Choppers of 2 prominent business houses.
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malQ · Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:43 pm Post subject:

Lohegaon/JP Narayan Teminal is an example of human ingenuity and how much can be achieved with 4 bays. Cougar has given pretty much the best picture, and other than hoping that the International flights operate during the wee hours, I can't add much else.

(As of now, every time there is an International flight being handled, the Immigration and Customs people get very self-important and tend to mess things up for the domestic passenger throughputs).

There is, in addition to all this, a small dirt strip in Hadapsar. Currently owned by the C.A.D., Central Government, and used by the Pune Gliding Club for gliders as well as the rest of the neighbourhood for everything. I have never seen a rotary wing aircraft there but there is always talk of allowing choppers there to serve the nearby Magarpatta and other IT parks.

In my humble opinion, defence utilisation apart, Pune 's Airport and air traffic has to Mumbai BOM,the same potential as San Jose SJC has vis-a-vis SFO.

Cougar, what are the facilities at Khadakvasla, and why does'nt Sahara's Amby Valley airport figure in the running?

ssbmat · Member Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 1710

Interesting that you brought up the SJC vs SFO concept for BOM-PNQ.

A brief look at SFO-SJC reveals that with United having a vice like grip on SFO operations other airlines are second level players at best. Also, lots of intl' carriers. But SJC was touted as the Silicon Valley airport but never quite took off at the international level, and AA uses it as a focus-city airport at best.

Coming back to BOM-PNQ, PNQ may reach a particular level of traffic and "stay there" because it would need to generate long term yields for airlines to find operations viable (International flights-wise).

IMO, PNQ may reach an optimum capacity level-while it may not exactly reduce the burden on BOM.

If the RelianceSEZ takes shape , BOM may have increased growth.
At this point, frankly, a lot more needs to happen to Pune (good infrastructure and some high-visibilty industry) that project it into national and international limelight. Until then, it will play second-fiddle to BOM.

JumboJet · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:14 am Post subject:

Interesting insights shared here.

PNQ runway as of date

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Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

there is another article in editorial section in line with the current discussion. Here is the link
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?p=2765#2765

he has named Mumbai in addition to Pune. So, that brings spotlight back to Nava Sheva. But one wonders if two new airports so close to each other would be really viable. Or maybe create a one big one in between the two cities. Local folks might be able to tell better.
rgds
VT-ASJ