Pune, India: Flight operations at Pune Airport were temporarily suspended late Friday night after an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft was involved in a hard landing incident that rendered the runway unusable for several hours, before authorities restored operations early Saturday morning following emergency repair work.
The disruption began at approximately 10:25-11:00 PM on April 17, when an IAF fighter aircraft experienced a “hard landing” during arrival. A senior IAF officer said the exact cause of the incident would be established only after a formal court of inquiry.
Given Pune Airport operates a single runway under a dual civil-military use model, the incident resulted in an immediate and complete suspension of both arrivals and departures.
As per the Airport Director, IndiGo cancelled 31 arrivals and 34 departures, while Air India cancelled three arrivals and three departures. SpiceJet called off two arrivals and three departures, and Akasa Air cancelled two arrivals and three departures. Air India Express also reported five arrivals and five departures being cancelled.
Authorities have not officially disclosed the exact aircraft type involved in the incident. However, it has been consistently identified as an IAF fighter aircraft across reports. The aircrew onboard were confirmed safe, with no injuries reported.
Officials also confirmed that there was no damage to civilian property or airport infrastructure beyond the runway obstruction.
The runway was declared temporarily unavailable late Friday night. All take-offs and landings were halted, affecting numerous scheduled night flights. Airlines were alerted, and multiple flights were cancelled, delayed, or diverted due to the closure.
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol confirmed the disruption and estimated that runway restoration would take around five hours.
The Indian Air Force, in its official communication, stated, “Pune runway is temporarily unavailable due to an incident involving an IAF aircraft. The aircrew are safe and there is no damage to civil property. Efforts are underway to operationalise the runway and resume normal operations at the earliest.”
Minister Mohol added, “Thankfully, the aircrew are safe and there has been no damage to civil property… it may take approximately 5 hours to restore normal runway operations.”
Following the incident, airport authorities and the IAF initiated rapid recovery and inspection work “on a war footing” to clear the runway and ensure safety compliance.
Authorities confirmed that all necessary safety checks were completed before reopening the airport to commercial traffic. Officials have not released a confirmed cause, and a detailed investigation is underway.
