You’d want to remain airborne

You’d want to remain airborne
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Eighty domestic departures. 10 international flights. An equal number of arrivals in both categories.

There are 8,000 domestic passengers crowding the domestic departure and an equal number arriving. The many times remodeled Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airport in Bangalore handles close to 20,000 passengers a day. A 30 percent increase over last year. Not to speak of the high visitor turnout.

There are more than 1,500 passengers going through the international departure where flights are normally bunched together. There are nearly 1,000 passengers in the cramped terminal at any given time. In addition, each passenger will have at least three people to see them off.

While the deluge of arriving passengers probably melts within minutes, it is both the departure terminals that take the stress.

And the authorities say they have to maintain a fine balance between the security hold and the waiting area. ‘‘As passengers are told to check in atleast an hour in advance, there is a rush especially in the security hold. Early mornings and late evenings are a chaos. There are 10-12 departures within an hour,’’ an airport official told this website's newspaper.

Inside the domestic terminal, the chairs are always full and it is common to see people standing around pulling their baggage and tripping others. The counter space has also shrunk. Indian Airlines, which earlier enjoyed the numero uno status, has dismantled four counters due to shrinking space, an IA ground crew said.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) authorities are at their wits end to expand the floor area without actually breaking any walls or encroaching upon parking areas. ‘‘In the last two years, we have already expanded six metres on the air side and little lesser on the city side.’’

The AAI also has a problem if planes arrive and depart late as the apron gets cramped and the aircrafts have to be parked away from the terminal building and passengers ferried in buses.

Bangalore has seen the number of flights increasing at an alarming rate. While international flights stand at last year’s number, domestic flights are increasing by the week. In the last one month alone, with the entry of Kingfisher Airlines, six departures were added. Now Spicejet is also looking at Bangalore with at least two flights a day.

‘‘Earlier, six aircrafts of different sizes could be parked in the apron, but now demand has gone up three-fold. Ever since Air Deccan started in August 2003, they have been increasing flights and cramping both the terminal, security hold and apron,’’ an airport source said. But the future looks more troublesome for HAL. Air One, another Bangalore-based operator is starting with two 50-seater aircrafts in August and plans to have six-seven departures from the city.

‘‘We have exhausted our capacity. There is no more space to build on the city side (frontage) or the air side (apron side). Recently, we allotted some counters outside the domestic terminal. Some airlines check in passengers here itself if there is only hand luggage,’’ an airport source said.