11 Chennai-Pune flights disrupted after Pune runway closure, sparks chaos at airport

CHENNAI: Multiple flights operating between Chennai and Pune were cancelled or disrupted on Saturday (April 18), after runway operations at Pune airport were temporarily suspended, leaving passengers stranded and causing commotion at Chennai airport.

The disruption was triggered after an IAF aircraft encountered a technical issue during landing at Pune airport, leading to a temporary runway closure. The IAF had earlier said the runway was “temporarily unavailable” due to the incident but confirmed that the aircrew were safe and there was no damage to civil property.

In this situation, 11 flight services operating between Chennai-Pune-Chennai were disrupted, and a lack of proper announcements about the situation at Pune airport left passengers at Chennai airport facing severe inconvenience, with arguments breaking out at airline counters.

List of disrupted flight services between Chennai and Pune

An Air India Express flight that departed from Chennai at 10:05 pm on Friday night with 162 passengers could not land in Pune and was diverted to Mumbai airport.

Similarly, an IndiGo passenger flight that departed from Chennai at 10:30 pm with 148 passengers was informed that the Pune runway was temporarily closed and returned to Chennai. Additionally, 9 flights operating between Chennai-Pune-Chennai were cancelled.

Also, IndiGo flights scheduled to depart from Chennai to Pune at 1:10 am, 3:10 am, and 4:50 am today were cancelled.

Likewise, a SpiceJet flight scheduled to depart at 5:20 am to Pune was also cancelled. In addition, 5 flights scheduled to arrive in Chennai from Pune were cancelled today.