Pune Airport is preparing to unveil a dramatically expanded Security Hold Area that airport authorities say will reshape the way passengers experience departures from the fast-growing western India hub, with the facility now targeted to be fully operational by the end of May 2026. The project, which repurposes the old arrival zone into a modern, integrated departure and security complex, is designed to ease chronic congestion, shorten queues, and keep pace with a sharp rise in passenger numbers following the opening of the airport’s new integrated terminal building in 2024.
New Security Hold Area Timelines and Scope
Airport officials state that core construction of the new Security Hold Area is on track for completion by the end of March 2026, after which the facility will enter a mandatory phase of testing, calibration, and regulatory scrutiny. Clearances from agencies including the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security are expected to extend the commissioning process, pushing the likely launch of full passenger operations to late May 2026. Authorities acknowledge that this staged timeline is meant to avoid the disruption and confusion that can result from prematurely opening partially complete infrastructure.
The new Security Hold Area is being developed in what was previously the old arrival section of Pune Airport, which has been structurally integrated with the new terminal. By converting this legacy space into a modern outbound zone, the Airports Authority of India aims to create a contiguous departure footprint rather than a patchwork of older and newer sections. Officials describe the project as a crucial final step in the airport’s multi-year transition from a heavily constrained terminal to a coherent, higher-capacity facility suited to current and projected demand.
In terms of scale, the expansion adds around 4,000 square metres to the terminal’s operational area, building on the new integrated terminal’s already larger footprint. Previous fact sheets and operator briefings have highlighted that the new terminal more than doubled built-up space compared with the old facility; this latest phase is intended to ensure that security and pre-boarding areas keep pace with that growth. Airport management argues that without a larger and more efficient Security Hold Area, earlier investments in check-in, baggage systems, and boarding infrastructure would be undermined by bottlenecks in the middle of the passenger journey.
Capacity Boost to Match Surging Passenger Numbers
The decision to prioritise a bigger and smarter Security Hold Area is rooted in the airport’s steep growth curve. In the first year of operations alone, after the new terminal became fully functional in July 2024, Pune Airport handled more than 10 million passengers, significantly exceeding earlier annual design benchmarks. Daily traffic averages have hovered around the high twenty thousand mark, with peaks during festive periods stretching older facilities to their limits.
Airport authorities project that passenger volumes will continue to climb, with internal estimates pointing to at least 7 percent overall growth in 2026 and roughly 10 lakh additional flyers compared with the previous year. International traffic has been expanding at an even faster clip, driven by additional overseas services and improved connectivity from Pune’s technology and manufacturing sectors. Under such conditions, a constrained Security Hold Area translates directly into longer queues at screening points, overcrowded departure lounges, and frequent boarding delays.
The new Security Hold Area aims to offset these pressures by expanding the number of processing and waiting positions. Plans include 14 additional check-in counters upstream of security, three more X-ray baggage inspection systems dedicated to hand baggage screening, and two extra bus or remote boarding gates. Combined with the new terminal’s existing 34 check-in counters, 25 self-check kiosks, and five baggage belts, the incremental capacity is expected to increase the terminal’s annual handling potential from roughly 9 million to around 10.5 million passengers, creating some headroom for the next few years of growth.
Streamlined Security and Passenger Flow Management
Beyond sheer capacity, the reimagined Security Hold Area is intended to refine how passengers move through the airport. The new departure layout is being organised around a more linear, integrated security zone rather than fragmented screening islands, mirroring designs already standard at larger Indian hubs. By clustering more lanes, frisking booths, and X-ray machines in one continuous space, the airport hopes to reduce choke points that previously formed at isolated checkpoints.
The project builds on technology already embedded in the new terminal, including a Passenger Flow Management System that tracks crowding across checkpoints, boarding gates, and concessions. Authorities say that once the new Security Hold Area is operational, this system will be able to direct staff resources and adjust queue layouts more dynamically, helping to smooth peaks during busy morning and late-evening departure banks. Real-time data on passenger distribution is expected to inform everything from lane opening decisions to announcements encouraging travellers to move to less crowded gates.
The new layout also works in tandem with an in-line baggage screening system on the check-in side, allowing hold baggage security checks to be conducted automatically in the background rather than at stand-alone scanning stations. This separation of hold luggage screening from hand baggage and personal checks should, according to planners, shorten the time passengers spend in visible queues, making the airport journey feel less stressful even when volumes are high. Officials argue that the combination of integrated screening, automated baggage flows, and an enlarged sterile zone will significantly reduce missed flights linked to security delays.
Repurposing the Old Terminal to Unlock Space
A key aspect of the Security Hold Area project is the way it leverages real estate from the decommissioned portions of the old terminal, rather than relying on entirely new construction on scarce airside land. After the new integrated terminal took over most flight operations from mid-2024, authorities began progressively integrating the remaining usable structure of the old building into the expanded departure complex, while planning to dismantle redundant parts.
The former arrival hall provided a particularly valuable volume of space adjacent to the new departure level. By stripping out legacy arrival facilities and reconfiguring internal circulation, planners have been able to carve out room for additional screening lanes, seating clusters, and boarding areas without significantly altering the overall airport footprint. Airport officials emphasise that such adaptive reuse is critical at Pune, where the co-located military airfield and limited civilian land holdings restrict expansion options.
This integration work has also involved linking different levels and wings of the combined structure through new corridors, escalators, and signage. Once complete, passengers will no longer perceive the boundary between old and new sections, instead encountering a single, unified departures experience. The Security Hold Area sits at the heart of this reconfiguration, acting as both a physical and functional bridge between past and present layouts.
Enhanced Facilities Inside the New Security Hold Area
Authorities are framing the forthcoming Security Hold Area as more than just a larger waiting room. The space is being outfitted with an expanded range of food and beverage outlets and retail units, building on a wave of new openings that have already taken the total number of dining options in the terminal to a dozen and retail shops to nearly twenty. Several of these outlets are located either directly within or immediately adjacent to the Security Hold Area, ensuring that passengers have more choices once they have cleared screening.
Officials say the retail and dining mix has been curated to blend international brands with local Pune favourites, giving the hold area a sense of place rather than a generic mall-like feel. Passengers will find quick-service counters suited to tight connection windows alongside sit-down options for those with more time before boarding. The commercial strategy is designed to tap into the longer dwell times that are typical after security, turning what can be a tedious wait into an opportunity to relax or shop.
Comfort amenities are also being upgraded. Seating capacity within the Security Hold Area is being increased substantially, with a focus on providing uninterrupted sightlines to information displays and boarding announcements. The design includes clearly marked priority seating for senior citizens, passengers with reduced mobility, and families with young children. Modern restrooms, improved lighting, and climate control systems are being installed along with charging points for electronic devices, reflecting growing expectations among domestic and international flyers.
Operational Efficiency and On-Time Performance
A less visible but strategically important goal of the new Security Hold Area is to improve on-time performance and reduce ground delays. When security and boarding facilities are undersized relative to demand, queues can quickly spill back toward check-in zones, forcing airlines to delay boarding and, in some cases, hold aircraft on the ground waiting for final passengers. Pune Airport has in recent years faced critiques from frequent flyers about congestion-induced delays, particularly during evening departure peaks.
By creating more screening capacity and distributing passengers more evenly across a larger sterile zone, the airport expects to stabilise departure flows and reduce last-minute rushes at gates. Additional bus boarding points and better connectivity to aircraft stands should enable boarding teams to start and complete the process more predictably, even when apron constraints remain a challenge. The airport is simultaneously working with airlines to optimise fleet deployment, encouraging the use of higher-capacity aircraft on key routes to move more passengers using similar slot patterns.
Aviation analysts note that while the new Security Hold Area cannot by itself resolve all operational constraints at Pune, particularly those related to parking bays and runway slots, it addresses a critical mid-terminal bottleneck that has long undermined the benefits of upstream and downstream investments. Authorities are also pushing forward with plans for new parking bays and incremental airside enhancements, but acknowledge that terminal-side efficiency gains are often the fastest way to produce noticeable improvements in the passenger experience.
Regulatory Oversight and Safety Priorities
The several-month gap between construction completion and the anticipated operational date of the new Security Hold Area underscores the regulatory intensity of airport security infrastructure. Once civil and electrical works are finished, the facility must undergo exhaustive testing and inspection by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and other aviation regulators. These agencies evaluate not only the technical performance of screening equipment but also the flow of passengers, segregation of sterile and non-sterile areas, and adherence to prescribed security protocols.
Inspectors will assess the placement and capacity of Door Frame Metal Detectors, X-ray machines, frisking booths, and surveillance systems, along with emergency evacuation routes and crowd management measures. Any deficiencies identified during this period must be corrected before full approval is granted. Airport officials acknowledge that this process introduces uncertainty into the exact launch date but insist that safety considerations cannot be compromised for speed.
In parallel, staff training is being intensified to ensure that the larger Security Hold Area is operated efficiently from the first day of passenger use. This includes refresher courses on security procedures, passenger handling, and emergency response techniques such as CPR and automated defibrillator use. Management views the combination of upgraded infrastructure and better-prepared personnel as essential to maintaining Pune Airport’s recent gains in national passenger satisfaction surveys.
Positioning Pune as a Regional Aviation Leader
The Security Hold Area expansion arrives at a time when Pune Airport is seeking to consolidate its position among India’s most highly rated mid-size airports. In recent Airport Service Quality surveys, the airport has climbed from mid-table rankings to secure the top position among a group of comparable domestic hubs, reflecting widespread passenger approval of the new terminal’s look and feel. Authorities believe that a world-class Security Hold Area will be central to sustaining and improving those scores.
For business travellers and tourists alike, the pre-boarding stage is often the most vivid part of the airport journey, colouring their overall impression of a city’s connectivity and hospitality. With the new facility, Pune intends to present a calmer, more organised face to millions of departing passengers each year, aligning the airport’s functionality with the city’s growing reputation as a technology and innovation centre.
Looking ahead to May 2026, the successful commissioning of the expanded Security Hold Area will mark the culmination of an extended phase of terminal modernisation that began years earlier with plans for the integrated building. While further airside and landside improvements are still needed to fully match the scale of Pune’s aviation ambitions, officials and industry observers see the project as a pivotal step toward a more seamless, resilient, and passenger-centric airport experience.