Air Deccan stops Pune-Nashik flights over slot constraints

Air Deccan has stopped its flights on the Pune-Nashik route owing to non-availability of slots at Pune airport, an airline source said. The flight was launched in December last year under the government's regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik). "The defence ministry had given us landing rights at Pune airport only for three months, which expired in February, following which our services on the Pune-Nashik route have been suspended for nearly two months," an airline source told PTI here.

Airports at Pune and Nashik come under the defence ministry. The services can be resumed only after getting new slots at Pune airport, the source said, adding that the issue has been taken up with the civil aviation ministry. The aviation ministry has already flagged the issue with the defence ministry, the source said. An official at the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the implementing agency for UDAN, confirmed that adequate number of slots are not available at the Pune airport.

"The civil aviation ministry has raised the issue with the defence ministry but it is yet to respond," the official said. At the defence ministry-controlled airports, the AAI allocates slots to the airline/ air operators on behalf of the defence authorities. Air Deccan, which has bagged 34 routes in the first round of UDAN, had launched services on Pune-Nashik route in December 2017.

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