Blame Air India management for flight fiasco in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: The punishment transfer of four immigration officials on Thursday has much to do with the way Air India operates its flights at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA).
Besides the negligence of the four constables and a police inspector deployed at the city airport as immigration officials, leading to over 80 international passengers to leave the city without clearance, the Air India management too is equally responsible for the fiasco. The incident also leads to some startling facts being revealed about the particular flight's efficiency.
The flight (earlier AI-636, now AI-012) which caused the embarrassment, seldom arrives and departs on time. The day when four immigration officials were found to be absent from their counters, the flight reportedly arrived earlier than scheduled. Sources revealed that the actual arrival time is 1520 hours but on March 4 it landed at 1445 hours. Generally, it rarely touches down in Ahmedabad before 4 pm.
"The shift of immigration officials starts from 12 pm. Since there is no work until the international flights start landing, from 7:30 in the evening onwards, the officials are casual in their work. But on that day the flight arrived well before time and that created problems," said a senior official at the airport, requesting anonymity. In fact, this is the only international flight arriving at day time at SVPIA. Otherwise, the fleet of international airlines starts landing and taking off only after 7:30 in the evening.
08/04/11 Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Air India Apr 2011, Airports Apr 2011