Air India begins using aerobridge at Nagpur airport

Nagpur: Exactly a month after Air Arabia started using one of the two newly commissioned aerobridges at the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport here, Air India followed suit from Sunday morning. The national carrier started using the facility for its passengers'. Air India operates daily morning flights to Mumbai and Delhi and evening flight to Mumbai.
Airport officials informed that early on Sunday morning, passengers of Air India's Mumbai-Nagpur and Delhi-Nagpur flights were pleasantly surprised to learn that they were among the first domestic passengers to use the aerobridge while disembarking at city airport.
TOI had many times highlighted the reluctance on part of domestic airlines to use the aerobridge that enables passengers to board and leave aircraft directly into terminal building. Taking cognisance of TOI reports that aerobridges at the airport were mere showpieces, Mihan India Ltd (MIL), the company operating the city airport, finally got Air India to start using the facility.
At present five Indian airlines Air India, Jet, Spice Jet, Indigo and Go Air, operate flights to various destinations from Nagpur. Passengers are transported from the airport building to the aircraft by buses. While disembarking, passengers have to walk from the aircraft or use buses. Sources at airport informed that after innumerable delays, MIL finally commissioned one of the two aerobridges on September 12. Rs 2 crore have been invested in two aerobridges. One of them became operational over two months ago but penny-pinching airlines are not using them to avoid paying charges involved.
13/12/11 Sachin Dravekar/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Dec 2011, airports Dec 2011