For a bigger slice of the sky

New Delhi: Even as the civil aviation ministry gears up to modernise key airports across the country, the verdict is out on the service quality of 40 major airports. Incidentally, out of the four metro airports of Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, the Delhi airport being run by a GMR-led consortium, has the poorest airport service quality (ASQ) on a five-point scale.
The survey conducted for the first quarter of 2008 (January-March, 2008) assigns 3.06 points to the Delhi airport, up from 2.91 points it received in the same period a year ago. It is followed by the Kolkata airport — being modernised by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) — which has received 3.22 points. The Chennai airport has grabbed the top spot for providing better quality airport service, followed by the Mumbai airport.
The Chennai airport holds the dubious distinction of providing the highest ASQ but ranking lower on customer satisfaction. Typically, the survey captures the passengers’ perception of the quality of more than 30 aspects of service that they have experienced at the airport. Interviewing covers every day of the week and every month of the year to ensure coverage of all seasons and all peaks and troughs.
Barring the Delhi and Kolkata airports which have shown a marginal improvement in services from the previous year, the service quality has declined at the remaining two airports in the first quarter of 2008 as compared to the year-ago period. Pulling up the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the civil aviation ministry had earlier instructed it to prepare a target timeline for the completion of various activities to reduce passenger dwell ing time at the airport.
In a meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar in March, the ministry of civil aviation submitted its report on the service standards at airports.
07/04/09 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Apr 2009