Pune: Baner resident Ankush Pathak, who often flies to Delhi from Pune on business, parks his car at the AeroMall whenever he has a trip, often for two to three days,He said: “I was apprehensive at first, but a friend said it was perfectly safe to leave my car there. Given how cabbies and auto drivers in Pune behave these days, I’d much rather have my own transport to the airport. I don’t want any hassle.”Sumit Anand from Koregaon Park shared a similar sentiment. “I take a lot of late-night flights and I can’t even remember the number of times cabbies have cancelled on me, even after pre-booking. Once, my wife had to drop me to the airport at night. So I now park at AeroMall whenever I have a flight,” Anand said.Multi-day parking at the facility — people leaving their vehicles for 2-3 days — has surged 200% in the months since AeroMall opened in 2022. “We first had some 10-15 people parking their cars overnight. Now, every month, we see at least 60 people parking their cars for two or more days,” said YS Rajput, vice-president of AeroMall, adding that they expect these numbers to increase.But parking fees at AeroMall are set to increase by 5% every year, a hike Rajput said was as per norms set by Airports Authority of India. “This is according to rules,” he said, while urging flyers to inform guards if their vehicles were going to be parked at AeroMall overnight. “Letting our security know would help us rule out suspicious vehicles,” he said.Citizens said the charges were high. “I paid Rs 1,650 after I returned from a six-day Delhi trip. I felt it was on the higher side, but considering how troublesome a trip to the airport is by auto or cab, I don’t mind the expense,” said Senthil Roy.Currently, the parking charge for a car at AeroMall is Rs 330 for 24 hours. After that, for each day, it’s Rs 220. For two-wheelers, it’s Rs 100 for the first 24 hours and subsequently, Rs 45. “In more than 90% of cases, vehicles were parked for 2-3 days and sometimes even for a week,” said Rajput.
