Indian air travellers are not impressed with the country’s airports and want improvement in a range of services—from baggage handling to staff behaviours. As CNN-IBN presents a nationwide poll on the State of Indian Airports on Saturday evening, IBNLive readers posted their views and questions on what they want as air travellers. CNN-IBN’s Aviation Correspondent Karma Paljor answered their questions in a web chat. (Excerpts from the chat. )
Girish Sharma: Seeing the pathetic condition at Indian airports, do you think the Government’s policy of ‘privatization’ requires rethinking?
Karma Paljor: It has been two years so we do need to question them. That is what we are doing let us hope for the best. If private developers start acting like a monopoly it will be bad for us passengers.
Dev: What is the security position at the Hyderabad airport?
Karma Paljor: It was cleared by government security agencies like the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the Central Industrial Security Force, so I don't think there should be any issue. Before giving operational clearance to any new airport all these issues are looked into by the government. Important functions like the air traffic control, immigration and security are still with the government.
Ashwin Nallari: Shamshabad airport in Hyderabad is not in citizens’ interest. TheBegumpet airport was doing well and it can still be used for domestic services. Shamshabad can be used for International services.
Karma Paljor: We need a regulator desperately to handle these airport operators, just like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monitors telecom companies.
Siva: Is the privatization of some existing airports and upcoming airports a partial solution to the growing air traffic?
Karma Paljor: Privatization will only do so much, because air traffic, security and immigration will still be with the government. It will take time for things to improve.
Viswanath: Do you justify the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to close the current airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad considering air traffic and number of passengers will increase? How secure are Indian airports in terms of terrorist attacks and drugs?
Karma Paljor: This is a big debate. We put this question across to the Civil Aviation Minister on out show State of Indian Airports. I personally think Bangalore and Hyderabad do need two airports. Let airports compete.
Pradeep: Many cheap and no-frills airlines have come up in the last few years. Do you think because of them the situation in airports getting worse?
Karma Paljor: Increase in traffic has put a strain on the infrastructure.
Shana: The Delhi airport has just eight X-ray units. That is shocking.
Karma Paljor: They are working on doing away with the X-ray machines. They will introduce inline baggage handling. Which means they will do the checks after you hand you luggage over to the airline like in most countries.
Amandeep: There are so many new airlines and flights but still passengers are delayed. Is it because we don’t have trained professionals who can manage air traffic and airports?
Karma Paljor: There are several issues behind aircraft delays. One reason is congestion at airports. Delhi and Mumbai are struggling with the increased number of flights. There is a shortage of ATC staff. Sometimes it’s the weather. Remember low costs airlines make money by maximizing aircraft usage, so if the aircraft is delayed at one station it affects other operations.
Kewal Khanna: Aviation industry in India is rapidly growing but the condition at most airports is horrible. The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi gives the impression of being a village. How long it is going to take us to be traveler-friendly and committed to service and convenience of the air traveller?
Karma Paljor: They say 2010 but I really do not know. Delhi was able to complete the parallel runway in time so let us see.
Parry: Access to airports and flights is a massive challenge to people with disability, elderly and injured. So much money is being spent on improving airports, why can’t a little bit of it be spent for these citizens?
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Karma Paljor: This is a big, big issue. My wife met with an accident and getting her to board those horrible, disabled unfriendly airport buses was a big challenge.
Ashwin Nallari: The new Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad has many problems. Parking is a mess, sanitation is bad and the roof is already cracking Assuming that I am a businessman in Delhi and have to fly to Hyderabad, I will spend an hour in Delhi getting to the airport. If the flight is for two and half hours and I spend another two and half hours to reach Hyderabad city from the airport, I would have spend some six hours commuting. Keeping all this in mind it makes sense to run the Begumpet airport for domestic services and Shamshabad for International airlines.
Karma Paljor: Many people want the old airport to be kept open. Even the government is keeping its options open. However since the government has already signed the contract with GMR there will be legal issues. I completely agree with you. The least they can do is to have a helicopter service to connect the two airports.
Dushyant: Do you think cheap, no-frills airlines have made things worse at airports? Are these airlines making too many compromises?
Karma Paljor: I don't think so. But a good practice would be to have a separate airport for them like in Europe. Most international low-cost airlines fly to airports which are away from the main city. Airlines save money because airport costs are cheaper.
Balaji Olety: Can India ever dream of having at least one airport which will match up to Frankfurt or Heathrow?
Karma Paljor: Hope so. The minister says by 2009-2010. We should have two at least—in Delhi and Mumbai. Delhi's parallel runway is almost ready and looking good. Hope we have personnel to man it.
Hemanth Kumar: I travel on domestic flights quite often and I am scared to use the restrooms at the airport. They are so very ill maintained and extremely unhygienic. When we are looking at opening new airports, we have lost focus on the existing ones. The number of flights and routes are increasing but the number of runways and facilities remain the same. The whole process from baggage scanning, check-in, security and boarding is very chaotic at most of the Indian airports. Is the government planning to sleep over this for the next years to come?
Karma Paljor: The will seems to be there. To be fair to the current minister he has been able to move forward with his agenda of modernizing airports across the country. But I guess like all government decisions it is moving slowly.
Neha: Is there any better way to organise baggage at Indian airports? It takes forever.
Karma Paljor: They are trying to do away with the X-rays and introduce the system followed in the other countries where you hand over baggage directly to the airline. More conveyor belts are also coming, especially in Delhi and Mumbai. But all this will take at least six months.
Ankit: Do you think that charging travellers for the development of airports is justified? Will such moves not force people from giving it a thought before they book air tickets? What is being done for the Surat airport?
Karma Paljor: 1. There is a big debate going on about user fees on passengers. Even the government thinks that the charges, which are currently about Rs 250 and Rs 650, are unjustified. Sadly the government’s agreement with the private airport developers allows for this charge.
We are all waiting for the airport regulator to come a come to the rescue of passengers. Secondly, reduction of fares will depend on costs. Currently the cost of Aviation Fuel is very high so it will be difficult for fares to come down. Surat will also be modernized, along with 35 non-metro airports.
(Watch ‘State of Indian Airports’ poll on CNN-IBN at 2000 hrs IST, Saturday. )
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