Pune: Passengers ferried by road from Nashik as flight gets cancelled

A subsidiary of Air India, Alliance Air on Saturday, November 16, ferried its passengers from Nashik to Pune via road after the cancellation of the flight to Pune. The flight was cancelled after the NOTAM was issued at the Pune airport. The flight was coming from Hyderabad to Pune via Nashik and was supposed to land at Pune airport at 9:30 am on Saturday. After the cancellation, 18 out of 28 passengers were taken from Nashik to Pune by road.

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NOTAM at Pune airport

A notice to airmen (NOTAM) is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the safety of the flight, or due to the security and maintenance of the airport facility. Apparently, the NOTAM at Pune airport was issued in view of the closure of the runaway for maintenance on Saturday after 10.30 am, which is a weekly exercise. Every Saturday, the runway remains closed between 10.30 am and 5.30 pm for maintenance and airline operations are not allowed during this time. “Since runway was closed for maintenance and NOTAM was issued, we had to cancel the flight and out of 28 passengers around 18 passengers were given surface transport and they were brought to Pune by different cars safely,” the official added.

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The Pune bound flight usually arrives in Nashik at 8 AM on Saturday and reaches Pune by 9.30 AM, however, the flight was delayed at the Hyderabad airport due to which it reached Nashik at 10 AM. “On Saturdays, the flight usually arrives in Nasik at 8 am and reaches Pune by 9.30 am. Today the flight got delayed at Hyderbad and reached Nasik at 10 am, and by the time NOTAM (notice to airmen) was in place and the runway at the Pune airport was to be closed for maintenance,” an official said.

(With PTI inputs)

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