Service poor at Chennai airport, finds survey
V Ayyappan | TNN | Updated: Feb 13, 2019, 07:16 IST
The survey conducted among 20 AAI airports showed the ranking of Chennai airport dipped from 53 in 2017 to 63 in 2018 (File photo)CHENNAI: The failing quality of passenger service at the city airport amid the kick-off of the construction of an integrated terminal by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has come to light in a survey by Airports Council International (ACI).
The survey conducted among 20 AAI airports showed the ranking of Chennai airport dipped from 53 in 2017 to 63 in 2018. Despite the quality rating of the city airport having increased from 4.60 in 2017 to 4.65 in 2018, Kolkata and 10 others smaller airports have been ranked better than Chennai.
The quality rating (marked on a scale of five) of Chennai airport has failed to reach the `excellent’ rating yardstick of 4.75 set by the ministry of civil aviation. Meanwhile, Kolkata airport has received a rating of 4.79, surpassing the target set by the ministry. Airports at Mangalore, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Calicut, Bhubaneswar, Pune and Srinagar have fared better than Chennai.
A senior official of AAI said even though the ranking has dropped, the increase in rating shows that service quality has improved. “Steps are being taken to improve the service level for passengers in the coming year while construction work and other impediments are being handled at the airport.”
Airport director G Chandramouli said, “Kolkata fared well because of its terminals and space. Each terminal is different. Spaces available for baggage handling is less and work is underway to construct a new integrated terminal and car park at the city airport which might have affected the rating.”
He also said that the airport was handling 20 million passengers with limited infrastructure. “Other AAI airports, except Kolkata, which have been ranked above Chennai, sees fewer number of passengers,” he added. He said steps were being taken to address passenger grievances at the earliest. “We even received an award from AirSewa for faster handling of complaints. When the integrated terminal and multilevel car park are ready, we will be able to overtake Kolkata.”
The survey conducted among 20 AAI airports showed the ranking of Chennai airport dipped from 53 in 2017 to 63 in 2018. Despite the quality rating of the city airport having increased from 4.60 in 2017 to 4.65 in 2018, Kolkata and 10 others smaller airports have been ranked better than Chennai.
The quality rating (marked on a scale of five) of Chennai airport has failed to reach the `excellent’ rating yardstick of 4.75 set by the ministry of civil aviation. Meanwhile, Kolkata airport has received a rating of 4.79, surpassing the target set by the ministry. Airports at Mangalore, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Calicut, Bhubaneswar, Pune and Srinagar have fared better than Chennai.
A senior official of AAI said even though the ranking has dropped, the increase in rating shows that service quality has improved. “Steps are being taken to improve the service level for passengers in the coming year while construction work and other impediments are being handled at the airport.”
Airport director G Chandramouli said, “Kolkata fared well because of its terminals and space. Each terminal is different. Spaces available for baggage handling is less and work is underway to construct a new integrated terminal and car park at the city airport which might have affected the rating.”
He also said that the airport was handling 20 million passengers with limited infrastructure. “Other AAI airports, except Kolkata, which have been ranked above Chennai, sees fewer number of passengers,” he added. He said steps were being taken to address passenger grievances at the earliest. “We even received an award from AirSewa for faster handling of complaints. When the integrated terminal and multilevel car park are ready, we will be able to overtake Kolkata.”
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