Lohegaon airport to get additional boarding and arrival gates soon
Besides the entry and exit points, the airport will have six new ATMs of various banks as well, said officials.
In a bid to help the passengers travelling from the Lohegaon airport in Pune, the Airport Authority of India is planning to construct additional boarding gates and arrival gates soon. Besides the entry and exit points, the airport will have six new ATMs of various banks as well, said officials.
Ajay Kumar, airport director, said, “We are planning to further expand the security hold area and are also planning to construct few more boarding and arrival gates. This decision is being taken in view of the consistently increasing number of air passengers at the airport.”
According to Kumar, the Airport Authority of India will soon invite bids for opening new ATMs inside the building. “At the moment, there are two ATMs inside the Pune airport. In next few months, six more ATMs will come up on the airport premises,” said Kumar.
Of the existing ATMs at the airport, one is of Bank of Maharashtra while the other is of Vijaya Bank. “A number of other proposals for the expansion of Pune airport are also on the cards. One of the new arrival gates will be opened in the next 10 days,” Kumar added.
The Airport Authority of India is also planning to increase the number of check-in counters from the existing 32 to 44.
The passengers flow at Pune airport has been on the rise every year, with an increase rate of 30%. The airport witnessed a footfall of 6,787,391 passengers during 2016-17. During the previous year, the footfall on Pune airport was 5,417,167.
Officials said that they expect the footfall at Pune airport to increase by 25% in the coming year.
“Along with the 12 new check-in counters, which will be completed by March 31, we are also working on constructing another escalator inside the terminal building as well. We are also in the process of increasing the number of self check-in kiosks by five by the end of April,” said Kumar. Kiosk is the machine that facilitates the traveller to check-in and print the boarding pass without standing in long queues at the check-in counters.