New airport terminals not user-friendly, say airlines

Chennai: At Chennai airport, when the snazzy steel and glass international and domestic terminals are finally opened, passengers will have to use shuttle buses to go from one terminal to another as a walkalator linking them will not be ready.
The walkalator was supposed to run inside a glass tube underneath a flyover connecting the terminals so passengers arriving from abroad would be able to transfer to the domestic terminal for check-in. As it will not be ready, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will use shuttle buses for passengers.
Airlines are not happy that the AAI is gearing up to open the terminals without completing the walkalator and an Airport Operations Control Centre (AOCC).
They have written to the civil aviation ministry highlighting the missing facilities. Inputs were given to the AAI to incorporate them into the terminals to make the them user-friendly but "a lot of our feedback and opinion have been brushed aside and things are taken forward without the airline fraternity who are end-users," says the letter sent last week.
"Lack of walkalator will increase minimum connection time between an airline and airport for passengers to transfer from international to domestic terminal. Tickets on connecting flights are booked based on this. More than 400 passengers transfer from international to domestic flights a day. If the time goes up, Chennai will lose its importance as a transit hub," said an airline official.
13/09/12 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: airports Sep 2012