Night landing at Shirdi airport not before year-end

PUNE: Night landings at the Shirdi airport will take at least six more months with the facility witnessing a fast growth in terms of flight movement.

The facility, which is managed by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC), was inaugurated in October 2017 and currently sees 24 flights movements a day.

Sources said it would take another six months for the airport to become a 24-hour operational facility. “The work for the night landing facility started in the middle of last year. But it got delayed because of the rapid growth of the airport,” an official said.

“We had expected the project to be over by early 2019. But because of the major growth at the airport, the scope of work kept on increasing. It will take nothing less than six months before the airport becomes a 24-hour operational facility,” the official said.

With the scope of the work increasing, the contractors wanted more time and resources, the sources said.

“Considering that the airport is fast expanding, we can afford to give the project some more time. Besides, the model code of conduct has led to more delay. We are now trying to complete the project by the year-end,” the official added.

The sources said though they were aiming to have having international flight movements within a year, the airlines would not start operations unless the night landing facility was in place.

Senior MADC officials had said that even after the project was complete, the operations would start only after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s approval.

The MADC had in March embarked on an expansion of the Shirdi airport’s terminal building, prompted by the rise in the passenger traffic. Once the new terminal gets ready, the existing building will become a part of it by 2021-22, source said.