Airport Infrastructure

I know a lot has been said about the way our Indian Airports function and how shabby the service is at the airports. The HT carried a very interesting article on the Best Airports in the World. An interesting one to read and you will notice that most of them figuring in the list are in Asia and there are no airports from the US.

I am not surprised. The way the aviation industry has taken off in this part of the world is huge. The US is not the market to look out for in the future. Asia is the future, it is the next business destination.

I have not been to the airports mentioned in the list except Changi airport in Singapore and KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport). They are huge and as friendly as any airport can get. It is like a place where I can come 2-3 hours in advance and spend my time quite leisurely. In fact I think KLIA is better than Changi. One reason is that it is quite new and has been built at a place which is like a good 45 minute drive from the city. And when I say a 45 minute drive, please note that the taxis normally go at about 120-135 kmph. So thats a good 90 odd km away from the city.

You get out of the plane, board the KLIA express, do a nice 3-4 minute ride over the landscaped airport and reach the main terminal. Do the immigration and walk out and take a limo taxi to your destination. It is so hassle free. There is WiFi in certain sections and good food and book stores to boot. The mall in the airport is like as big as any mall you can find in the city. I dont know how big the area is but I can tell you that it is atleast 10 times the size of our Mumbai airport, which I think should be the biggest airport in India today.

The basic issue in placing an airport in India is that people crib when they decide to set up the airport in the outskirts. The new Mumbai airport is in New Panvel, thats a good way off the Andheri's and Dadar's of Mumbai. I can understand why people crib. The traffic to Panvel is killing till you pass Vashi. Now the whole point is you build the airport in the outskirts but please make a good 4 lane or 6 lane road to the place too. That our government will not do. The approach road to the KLIA is like an F-1 track but much wider :)

The new Bangalore airport is coming up in Hebbal, which at that point of time was the outskirts, but now it is as much part of the city as it can be. The IT companies complained that it is a good 2-3 hour drive from the Electronics city to the Hebbal Airport. Definitely, if they have to take the same roads that they are taking now. When will our governments not take a short term perspective on things and make up their mind on a long term vision. The HAL airport (the current Bangalore airport) is smaller than the dysfunctional Air India/Indian Airlines office in Nariman point. So that should give you an idea, how bad the scene is.

In KLIA, people board the airline like half an hour before the take off as they have 30-35 vestibules that can feed the planes at one go. So all it needs is 10 minutes for the plane to get into the runway and take-off. In our case, the poor airline has to do the boarding and the take-off in the 15- 20 minutes alloted to it and invariably, it gets delayed. A visit at exactly 12 midnight to the Bangalore international departure side will give you an idea of the increasing traffic at this airport. There are something like 2o0 chairs which get filled and another 100 odd people standing in the lounge area.

If you make the flying more pleasurable, I am sure more number of people are gonna take up air travel over rail travel. If we dont make anything like the KLIA or the Changi in the next 5 years in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, I wonder what would happen to the air travellers...