It’s chaos at Bangalore’s international airport

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With increasing air traffic, it’s chaos at Bangalore’s international airport. What’s going on?
The Times of India

WELCOME to Bangalore. Think twice before you say that to anyone arriving at the existing international airport. One baggage carousel, a single x-ray machine for your luggage and a security check queue with 100-plus travellers — sounds like anything but a welcome, doesn’t it?

Starting this month, with more international flights coming into Bangalore, chaos reigns at the airport. Airport authorities say every month, 204 international flights arrive in the city, while there are 203 departures. The number of passengers coming in internationally is 27,076, while the number of those leaving the city is 28,732 per month.

But many weary travellers, who’ve recently stopped over here, have only woes to share. BT focuses on facilities that are all-important for any traveller, and required for an airport that calls itself ‘international’. Ready to board: Federico Ricci, managing director of a marble and granite business, travels between Italy and India frequently and it’s always the same story. “It’s the Indian culture — at the Frankfurt airport, you can’t miss the boarding gate. You see 100 Indians waiting in line, two hours in advance,” says Ricci, who can’t understand why they do it. Only a few days ago, he was waiting to board the plane to Bangalore when two ladies pushed him because they wanted to get ahead. “I wanted to tell them that the plane wasn’t running away. They think it’s like a bus and will leave them behind.” Another habit peculiar to Indians is that they never switch off their cell phones. “Many who come here wonder, why they behave this way?”

Getting past customs (arrival/ departure): According to Anirudh N, senior marketing manager, Europe operations, at an MNC, immigration is okay when you’re leaving the country, “because people come in at different times, so it’s organised. But now with an increase in air traffic, the infrastructure is going to be stretched. There isn’t enough space for even immigration officers to sit.” He adds that while returning from abroad, since everyone comes out of a flight together, the queue piles up. “Then you have to put your baggage through one single machine. Even customs officials look like they’re not there to help, but to

make a quick buck. That’s the first impression any foreigner gets of our officials. Sometimes, people with two-three laptops, carried for a work related event, find themselves in trouble.” Waiting for baggage: Anil Kripalani, president of a company that manufactures ingredients for personal care, wasn’t prepared for this when he set up operations in Bangalore. A few days ago, his flight landed at 1 am from Spain and he reached his home in Ulsoor two hours later. “We were unaware that another flight had landed at the same time and no one knew whose luggage was coming out first. So everyone rushed with their trolleys and gathered at the single baggage carousel,” he says.

It was mayhem, he adds, with people banging trolleys into each other and tempers flying. “No announcements were being made about which bags were arriving first. Why can’t they have extra conveyor belts since more flights are coming in now? Or make an announcement asking people to wait on the side to avoid confusion.”

Facilities on departure/arrival:
Even before the number of international flights coming into Bangalore went up, the facilities on offer at Bangalore’s international airport wasn’t anything to rave about, says businesswoman Lakshmi Rajan. “Something as basic as sufficient seating is lacking. People have to sit on the floor — it’s worse than a train station,” she says. “It’s embarrassing that a city attracting so much international clientele doesn’t even have a big enough lounge. The bathrooms are smelly, there’s one coffee shop and no ATMs.”

Rajan feels that this airport was created to handle one-third the number of flights and with so many passengers flying in and out everyday, it only exposes how backward we are from the infrastructure point of view. “This is what greets the international traveller, and that’s why he thinks, ‘I’ve landed in a third world country’.”