Ranchi airport tops medium-category airports in terms of customer satisfaction

Ranchi:The Birsa Munda International Airport has topped the category of 17 medium-level airports in the country in terms of generating customer satisfaction. The result was declared following a half-yearly passenger feedback survey conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The Ranchi airport scored 4.79 points out of total five points covering 33 parameters centred around passenger facilities. The Bodhgaya Airport in Bihar and the Surat International Airport in Gujarat bagged the second and the third spots, respectively.
Talking to TOI, Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma said the survey was conducted between the months of January and July this year. He said, “The AAI undertakes such surveys twice every year. And for the first time we have bagged the first spot. For big and medium airports, the AAI hires a private agency to conduct the survey, while smaller airports are evaluated by the department itself. Bigger airports are assessed in terms of airport service quality, while the medium ones are rated on customer satisfaction index.”
The customer satisfaction index includes parameters like parking facilities, availability of trolleys at the departure, waiting lounges, time taken for procuring boarding passes, quality of toilets, seating arrangements, cleanliness and child-care arrangements, among others. Citing some of the value additions they carried out at the airport, Sharma said, “We have installed automated sanitary pad dispenser machines in the washrooms for the convenience of female passengers. We have also renovated the child-care centre.”
Notably, Ranchi airport authorities are now working on a plan to introduce time-based parking system rates for visitors. “At present, we have flat parking rates of Rs 50 and Rs 55 depending on the vehicle but we are going to introduce a different system from November 1. Under the new system, the charge will be Rs 20 for half an hour, Rs 40 for one hour and so on,” Sharma said.
Currently, 24 flights are operating from Ranchi airport. This number is half of what it was during the pre-lockdown period. On an average, the airport is now handling between 4,000-4,500 people on a daily basis as opposed to 20,000 earlier.
Sharma said that they have sought the permission of the state government to operate five more flights. “If we get the nod, the rush at the airport will further increase,” he said.