Pune: Flight movement at the Shirdi airport is unlikely to be affected because of the runway re-carpeting work initiated at the facility, officials have said. Re-carpeting work is expected to continue till next Feb at the airport, which is managed and operated by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC). Shirdi airport director Gaurav Upshyam said the initial work pertaining to re-carpeting has already started.
“The hot cement mixing plant has been set up, and the contractor is working on other areas like taxiways. The main work, that is, on the runway, will start in early October, once rain subsides,” he said. The airport was inaugurated by former president Ram Nath Kovind in Oct 2017.
The airport was given the licence to operate after sunset by DGCA last Feb. However, no after-sunset flights have begun yet. “As the airport is operational only between 11am and 6pm, we have planned to carry on with the re-carpeting work after sunset.
Work will start around 6.30pm and continue till 10.30am.
There will come a point when the main runway area will see proper re-carpeting. While we don’t expect disruptions in any flight movements, the decisions will be taken as per the scenario,” an official from MADC said. Once completed, the long-awaited plan to make the airport operational 24 hours would happen, and talks with airlines are underway, Upshyam said.
“The total length of the runway of the airport is 3,200m. Of this, 2,500m is being used. Once the re-ca.