Mumbai: Flight operations at Pune International Airport faced a major crisis through Friday night as the single runway was shut down for nearly 12 hours following a landing mishap involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jet. The incident led to the cancellation of more than 80 commercial flights, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
Landing gear malfunction caused hard landing at 10:25 pm
At around 10.25pm on Friday, an IAF fighter aircraft experienced a landing gear malfunction during a routine night sortie due to which the aircraft suffered a hard landing. This caused the aircraft to come to a halt in the middle of the runway. The runway had to be shut down for a quick transportation of the aircraft and to ensure that the runway remained usable.
The Indian Air Force informed people through its social media channels about the unavailability of the airport due to “an incident involving an IAF aircraft.” It also informed that the air crew were safe and there was no damage to the civil property, adding that they were undertaking efforts to operationalise the airport at the earliest.
80 flights cancelled, 10 diverted to Mumbai, Goa, Surat, others
Throughout the night, flight operations remained suspended at the airport. At least 80 flights, including around 35 arrivals and 45 departures, had to be cancelled in 12 hours due to the unavailability of the runway. More than 10 flights, which were already enroute to Pune, had to be diverted to Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Goa, Surat and Indore.
The commercial operations started post 10am on Saturday as a Star Air flight to Kishangarh departed from the airport at 10,11am. The Indian Air Force also informed the public at 9am that the airport was restored and operational. “All necessary safety inspections and clearances have been completed. Operations are resuming in a phased manner,” it added.
Commercial airlines, including IndiGo, Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet, faced cancellations and diversions throughout the night. Most of them had released an advisory on Friday late evening about the potential cancellations and delays in operations. The airlines continued to suffer delays throughout Saturday.
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