Indian Airport amongst World's best

[Singh]

IGI best improved airport in Asia-Pacific region, says survey​

Having seen rapid development and improved infrastructure post-privatisation in 2006, the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport today ranks first in the category of ‘best improved airports’ in the Asia-Pacific region, according to a survey by the Airports Council International (ACI).

The airport is also the fourth best in the world in the ACI’s annual airport service quality (ASQ) award in the category of 15 to 25 million passenger traffic per annum.

The Geneva-based ACI is a non-profit organisation that promotes professional excellence in airport management. “The 2009 passenger ratings show that despite the economic crisis, overall satisfaction at airports increased by almost three per cent worldwide compared to 2008. Nearly 82 per cent airports were rated for stable or improved performance,” Craig Bradbrook, ASQ programme director said in a communiqué issued by the organisation.

The awards will be formally presented on May 13 at the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Conference and Exhibition in China.

“When we took charge in 2006, we had set ourselves a goal to be among the top 10 airports in the world in terms of service quality in the overall category. With the inauguration of Terminal 3 in July, the airport will surely achieve its dream,” G M Rao, GMR Group chairman, said. After the launch of Terminal 3, the airport would be able to handle 60 million passengers per annum.

“The dual distinction is a great motivating factor. The achievement is a result of efforts by all stakeholders. We’re confident the ratings will improve with the opening of T3,” P S Nair, Delhi International Airport Limited CEO, said.

How are airports rated?

The airports are rated on 34 parameters under 10 broad categories. Some of these are directly or indirectly attributable to a host of other agencies at the airport, including key regulatory and facilitating agencies like customs, immigration, security, airlines and ground handlers. By order of importance, these categories include an airport’s ambience, cleanliness of the terminal, comfort at waiting areas, availability and cleanliness of washrooms, courtesy of staff, business lounges, connectivity , passport and ID inspection experience and good shopping facilities.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i...rt-in-asiapacific-region-says-survey/581621/0

Hyd airport among world’s top five​

Hyderabad: The GMR Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has been rated in the top five best airports among the 5-15 million passengers capacity airport in the world by the Airports Council International (ACI) in its Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey.

RGIA was developed and operated by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd and started its commercial operations in 2008.

Being the first PPP venture in the airport infrastructure sector, the project partners include GMR Infra (63%), Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%), AAI (13%) and Andhra Pradesh government (13%). The airport has handled over 6.5 million passengers till date and has the second longest runway of 4,260 metre and is designed to handle 12 million passengers. The airport handles 11 international and nine domestic airlines; connects 35 destinations both domestic and international put together and has two cargo services---Blue Dart for domestic and Lufthansa for international purposes.

"Winning an award is just the beginning for us. I am confident that this award will spur us on to continuously raise the bar and remain the best airport in the world for providing customer satisfaction and delight,'' P Sripathy, CEO, said. The airport had traffic of 6.4 million passengers a year.

ASQ is used by many airports as one of the key performance indicators of airport's services and is often linked into service level agreements, key performance indicators, concession agreements, privatization agreements and remuneration contracts all over the world. As many as 50 airports in the 5-15 million category competed with the RGIA for the coveted position in 2009. In fact, this was made achievable due to coordinated efforts by its partners which included housekeeping staff, all the airlines, ground handlers, CISF, Customs, Immigration, the transport community, the food and beverage operators and retailers.

Incidentally, last year was a tough year for airports worldwide. Traffic numbers fell while competition rose. For airports, it was a year of balancing tight budgets with high customer expectations for service excellence. ASQ has won industry recognition as a world class benchmarking programme. As of February 2010, ASQ counts 140 participating airports. To be eligible for the annual ASQ awards, an airport must participate during all four quarters of the year, using the standard questionnaire.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Hyd-airport-among-world-s-top-five/581057/

 

[thakur_ritesh]

Oh yes what a drab all these airports used to be way back with at times falling ceilings, poor seating, long unmanaged queues especially post these low fare flights had hit the scene at the security check with people in the lounge area forced to sit on luggage trolleys or at times even on their luggage, with sometimes those x-ray machines non functional, and delhi was such a shabby one and compare that to today. Amongst all this we used to envy the air sahara’s vip lounge space, and used to share a good laugh on the outfit deccan airlines had come up for their airhostesses who used to look more like nurses.

The thing I like most about delhi airport amongst all the airports I have used is it gives you the warmest feeling with the way it has been done from with in, and one has to give to the designers who have come up with an absolute gem here and as per me delhi airport leaves even the Hyderabad airport behind on this aspect. One has got to love this airport for sure.

For exteriors hats off to the Hyderabad one, just approaching it gives you a feel of the enormity of this airport especially for a much smaller city like Hyderabad, and once in this hugely spacious airport with glass every where even on the ceiling the feel of space only increases. One of the most modern that one will see, which is more with keeping with times, but the feel one has sitting in the delhi doesn’t come here.

Compared to the rest which have been done up, Mumbai still has a lot of catching up to do and even after being renovated the waiting lounge area and departure area are well just not in sink with the check in area and security check and come out in such a bad shape that it seems those two areas each are poles apart from each other with in the same space. This compared to when all these airports had not been renovated when Mumbai used to stand out.

Though if someone is doing delhi-mumbai sector, or is using any of these two airports to reach some other destination, it is a literal nightmare with pilling up of air traffic, which either leaves you stranded at the airport for hours, or you are cramped up on board and during peak office hours be rest assured the delay can be anywhere between an hour to two hours, only a few lucky flights make it through earlier than that. This is one thing that has still not changed though in between it did for good but for now they are back to square one.

Airports apart, what I miss till date from those days is the auctions air sahara used to do, what fun this used to be, not sure jet lite has continued with the tradition or not, but it had its own charm.

 

[Yusuf]

Just saw delhi airport a couple of days back on my way back to bangalore. Good facilities. Neat and clean. There was enough parking outside.

One thing that did strike me was the checking counters. Not enough of them. Maybe because it was the domestic terminal. It must be better in the international terminal. At other international airports we see counters going from section A to M with a number of counters in each section. And a lot of gates too leading to the aircraft.