Thursday, April 20, 2017

Separate arrival, departure halls, new conveyer belts soon - Mangaluru Airport director

Mangaluru:  J T Radhakrishna has been serving as the director of Mangaluru International Airport since November 2012. Hailing from Ananthpura, Andhra Pradesh, Radhakrishna joined Indian aviation in 1993 as manager of engineering department. He is the winner of Best Engineer Award for successful planning and implementation of the new terminal at Mangaluru airport in 2010. He has also served in Calicut and Coimbatore airports.

Radhakrishna spoke in an exclusive interview to daijiworld editor-in-chief Walter Nandalike on Daijiworld 24x7 channel's 'Public Challenge' programme.

Excerpts

Q: We have been witnessing a significant increase in passenger inflow every year at Mangaluru airport. But, there has been an increase of only five per cent this year. What is the reason for decline in passengers?

A: A few of the flights have been cancelled this year. Bengaluru runway which is not in operation from the past three months has led to cancellation of flights. Two flights of Air India were affected as only one runway was operational.

While the inflow of passengers was 16.75 lac last year, it was 17.5 lac this year. The figure will grow and I am confident that it will cross 20 lac.
Q: Being the director of an airport is a huge responsibility. The director is blamed if anything goes wrong even in customs or immigration. Mangaluru airport stands 12th in the country in passenger inflow. A lot of negative comments are being heard about Mangaluru airport. What exactly is going on?

A: There are allegations of immigration officers harassing the passengers. Problems are being experienced in cases of NCR, NCER, ECR passports and date changes in visas. There are certain restrictions for passengers travelling with ECR passports. Problems occur when there are no proper documents with the passengers. Otherwise, there is no problem at Mangaluru airport.

Even if there are a few cases, it does not mean that the entire blame has to be put on the airport. There are no such serious problems regarding harassment of passengers. There are only a few minor issues with one or two passengers in relation to documentation and tampering of passport.
19/04/17 Daijiworld
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