22 October,2009 09:05 AM IST | | Chandran Iyer
Pune's Lohegaon International Airport will spend Rs 12 crore to develop six hangars for aircraft belonging to charter plane operators. Currently, charter planes are being parked in the open next to commercial aircraft.
"We have submitted a proposal to the government for budgetary provision, which the government has, in principle, approved," said Captain S K Mahajan, director of Pune Airport. The proposed hangars will be ready in 10 months.
'Very beneficial'
The decision to construct the hangars has been taken after several requests from charter plane operators.
Currently, there are 12 such operators, including Bharat Forge, Kirloskars, Poonawala , Bajaj, Finolex and Eon Aviation.
"If the hangars are constructed, it would be very beneficial for non-scheduled flight operators like us. They would provide security for the aircraft, help in better maintenance, as the hangers will have space for a small office and make operations easy," said Anil Ummat, operating manager of Eon Aviation, a charter service firm from Pune.
Charter flight companies are called non-scheduled flight operators, while companies like Jet, Air India, etc who have commercial flights are scheduled flight operators.
At present, parking charges for each charter plane are Rs 360 per sq m per month. "Parking fees for the hangar will be decided after the logistics and cost factor come into the picture," said P L Prasanna, manager, commercial operations, Pune airport.
