At City airport, flier will soon be the king

At City airport, flier will soon be the king
Deccan Herald

Bangalore is said to have the third highest passenger traffic after Mumbai and New Delhi. Over the last five years, daily take-offs have risen from 47 to 115.


Flier comfort for globe-trotting Bangaloreans seems to have become priority number one for officials at the international airport here.

With passenger traffic multiplying over last few the months and the Devanahalli International Airport still a few years away, the Airports’ Authority of India (AAI) has decided to upgrade its infrastructure facilities to meet the existing demand.

With an estimated traffic of five million passengers per annum, and the number of landings and take-offs rising from 47 to 115 per day in the last five years, AAI is planning to increase the number of check-in counters for travellers. It will increase the number of counters from 17 to 24 for domestic airlines and add another 10 counters to the existing 11 for international flights, by this December. AAI is also planning to integrate the counters with the Common Users Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system, where every check-in counter will be equipped to handle the formalities for all the airlines.

“Right now, every airline has dedicated counters, but this leads to saturation. We intend to make all counters multi-purpose,” reveals B R Sena, Additional General Manager (Communications), AAI.

The CUTE system, that is expected to be launched in Bangalore within three to four months, will be introduced in 14 other airports in the country. As international airlines like North-West Airlines, Air France and British Airways come knocking, adding another 15 international flights per week, the AAI is choosing to make structural changes at the airport.

The check-in counters for international departures will be shifted from the first floor to the ground floor to facilitate easy transfer of baggage. The first floor will be reserved for immigration, customs and security checks.

The seating capacity at the security hold area will also be enhanced from 300 to 650 passengers. “During peak hours, there are nearly 100-200 passengers who wait standing, we want to ensure their comfort,” explains Sena.

“Bangalore is ranked third in domestic traffic, after Mumbai and New Delhi, but there is an acute shortage of manpower to handle the work. While we have only four terminal managers across all shifts, airports in Kolkata and Chennai have at least four managers per shift,” says an AAI operations manager, explaining the lack of effective monitoring of the airport.

According to him, there are not even enough personnel to handle the equipment. “We have a double X-ray machine for handbag checks, but we cannot use both of them simultaneously during peak hours because there are not enough people,” he said.



THE NEW COMFORT ZONE

*Ten more counters to be added to the existing 11 for international flights by December.

* Number of counters for domestic airlines to go up from 17 to 24.

* Common Users Terminal Equipment (CUTE) system will ensure multi-purpose counters.

*The check-in counters for international departures will be shifted from the first floor to the ground floor.

* Seating capacity in the security hold area will be enhanced from 300 to 650 passengers.