Pune: Three flights delayed and diverted on Wednesday due to runway unavailability

Flights of Air India, IndiGo, and Vistara, were affected between 10:30 am and 11 am.

Due to an unforeseen extension in Indian Air Force (IAF) activities, Pune Airport witnessed runway restrictions on Wednesday, causing three flights to be delayed or diverted, according to an official. The IAF actions took half an hour longer than planned, causing delays for passengers.

According to an Indian Express report, Pune Airport Director Santosh Dhoke confirmed the diversion of three flights. He said, “The Indian Air Force conducts regular activities on the runway from 8:30 am to 10 am but exceeded the scheduled time by half an hour, till 11 am. This impacted services during this half-hour window when typically three to four flights operate.”

It may be noted the Pune airport is housed in a military base and the operations of Air Force always get a priority over civilian flights. Hence there are limited runway slots available for civil aviation and even those scheduled slots may get disrupted if the IAF operations require the runway anytime.

Flights of Air India, IndiGo, and Vistara, were affected between 10:30 am and 11 am. Vistara announced on X (formerly Twitter), “Flight UK971 from Delhi to Pune (DEL-PNQ) has been diverted to Mumbai (BOM) due to runway restrictions at Pune Airport and is expected to arrive in Mumbai at 10:45 hours.”

#DiversionUpdate: Flight UK971 from Delhi to Pune (DEL-PNQ) has been diverted to Mumbai (BOM) due to runway restrictions at Pune airport and is expected to arrive in Mumbai at 1045 hours. Please stay tuned for further updates.

— Vistara (@airvistara) August 14, 2024

Air India flight AI565, expected to arrive in Pune from Bangalore at 10:50 am, landed at 4:38 pm. Meanwhile, IndiGo airline’s flight 6E 502 from Chennai to Hyderabad was diverted to Pune.

Passengers expressed their frustration on social media about the absence of alerts about delays and diversions. Indigo acknowledged the delay and responded to a flyer:

A flyer said to HT, “We departed from Delhi Airport by a Vistara flight in the morning and were then told that the flight will land in Mumbai as there is some runway issue at Pune Airport. It was disappointing for all the passengers as our schedule for the day went for a toss…”