In a positive development for Punekars, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol has announced that direct flights to Dubai and Bangkok have begun from the Pune Airport.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Friday night, Mohol wrote, "As declared back in September, new Pune-Dubai-Pune and Pune-Bangkok-Pune flights are all set to be operational from tonight!"
"This means more international connectivity, more trade and more development. Happy flying, Punekars," he added.
These IndiGo flights were initially scheduled to start operating from October 27, but the launch was postponed.
The flight from Pune to Dubai will depart daily at 5:40pm, arriving in Dubai at 10:10pm. The return flight will depart for Pune at 12:15am. The Pune-Bangkok flight will operate three times a week – on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays – departing at 11:10pm, with the return flight from Bangkok leaving at 1:15am.
With the launch of these new flights, Pune is now directly connected to three global destinations: Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore.
Pune airport climbs to 74th in ASQ ranking
Pune International Airport showed a slight improvement in the global Airport Service Quality (ASQ) rankings, moving up from 76th position in Q2 (April-June) to 74th in Q3 (July-September). The Pune Airport had slipped from 71st to 76th in the ASQ rankings in Q2.
Out of the 31 parameters assessed in the survey, Pune Airport showed improvement in most categories, including ease of access to the airport, ease of navigation inside the terminal, and walking distance within the facility. However, three parameters saw a decline compared to the previous quarter. These included the value for money of the selected mode of transport (including parking facilities), waiting time at border/passport control and ease of connecting to other flights.
