The Indian Air Force said late on Friday night that the runway of Pune International Airport has been temporarily closed following an incident involving an aircraft. The Air Force said that efforts are on to restore the runway to normal operations as soon as possible.
IAF said in a post on social media, ‘Pune The runway is temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an IAF aircraft. The aircrew are safe and there is no damage to civilian property. Efforts are underway to reopen the runway and restore normal operations.
Actually, Pune Airport works on a ‘dual-use model’, which includes both civilian commercial operations and active air force station.
The police officer said that the IAF plane made a hard landing during landing, although he refused to give further details. According to Pune Airport officials, during the landing of a fighter aircraft at around 10:25 pm on Friday night, its undercarriage (landing gear) failed, due to which the runway was disrupted.
Air Force Air Traffic Control says it may take about 4–5 hours to clear the runway and restore operations.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Moho also confirmed the suspension of runway operations. He wrote on X, ‘The aircraft crew is safe and there is no damage to civilian property. Airlines have been informed and it may take approximately 5 hours to restore normal operations. I am in touch with the airport director and Air Force officials so that the situation can become normal soon.
(With PTI inputs)
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