A senior airport official said the facility was not operating at optimal capacity at the current location, which was also a hindrance to the construction of the new terminal coming up adjacent to this facility. “Our top priority is to shift the cargo hold area,” he said.
The official said 33 acres of privately owned land was allotted to different facets of the airport’s expansion. “We were told that 10 acres can be allocated for the cargo facility immediately,” he said.
He said once moved, they expect a jump in the facility’s usage. “The existing international cargo hold area is a hurdle to the construction of the new terminal building. It is also not spacious,” the official further said.
“As the new and old terminal buildings are to be merged, the (cargo) facility needs to be relocated,” another airport official said.
This would be a temporary arrangement, one official in the know said — once the new terminal is ready, its basement would serve as a state-of-theart cargo handing area.
“The new building is expected to become operational by April next year. Till then, a stopgap arrangement needs to be made so that the freight movement can continue,” the official said.
Indian Air Force will also be given a part of the 33 acres in lieu of the land they gave the Airports Authority of India, Pune MP Girish Bapat said last week.
The airport officials started the international cargo export facility in July 2017. Domestic and international cargo movement was encouraging last year. A larger cargo facility will improve the numbers even more,” another airport official said.
On the trans-shipment facility, a senior official said two airlines — Air India and Indi-Go — will start using the facility soon. “SpiceJet is doing well in terms of cargo exports,” the official said.
The facility was set up in July 2017, and at that time, the airport authorities had set their annual international cargo export expectations at 40,600 metric tonnes. Data show that the facility has fallen woefully short of those expectations.
Recent Comments