Mukesh Bhatia, Air India's western region (India) director, says the carrier is considering using Pune as a possible base for its Maharashtra state operations given Mumbai International's growing lack of available slots.
Speaking to DNA news, Bhatia said Pune, at just 120 kilometres from Mumbai, could be used as an alternative hub to serve other regions in the state such as Nanded, Amravati, Nashik and Shirdi.
"We may connect these cities may be by using Pune as our base and connecting it once with Mumbai," he said. "There is a severe shortage of slots availability at Mumbai Int'l."
Bhatia added that in order to mitigate growing congestion at local airports, Air India was also looking at deploying more widebody aircraft onto domestic flights thus increasing available capacity.
