IBNLive Chat: 'Improving airports will take time'

FLIGHTS VS AIRPORTS: A view of the Kochi airport. Poll says Indian airports are struglling with increased traffic.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Television, for politicians with a vision

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• Chat Now: With Yogendra Yadav on Guj pre-poll survey
• Live Chat: With Yogendra Yadav on Gujarat exit poll
• Flying high: Mumbai emerges as best airport

Keywords: Chat , Survey

Indian air travellers are not impressed with the country’s airports and want improvement in a range of services—from baggage handling to staff behaviours. As CNN-IBN presents a nationwide poll on the State of Indian Airports on Saturday evening, IBNLive readers posted their views and questions on what they want as air travellers. CNN-IBN’s Aviation Correspondent Karma Paljor answered their questions in a web chat. (Excerpts from the chat. )

Girish Sharma: Seeing the pathetic condition at Indian airports, do you think the Government’s policy of ‘privatization’ requires rethinking?

Karma Paljor: It has been two years so we do need to question them. That is what we are doing let us hope for the best. If private developers start acting like a monopoly it will be bad for us passengers.

Dev: What is the security position at the Hyderabad airport?

Karma Paljor: It was cleared by government security agencies like the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and the Central Industrial Security Force, so I don't think there should be any issue. Before giving operational clearance to any new airport all these issues are looked into by the government. Important functions like the air traffic control, immigration and security are still with the government.

Ashwin Nallari: Shamshabad airport in Hyderabad is not in citizens’ interest. TheBegumpet airport was doing well and it can still be used for domestic services. Shamshabad can be used for International services.

Karma Paljor: We need a regulator desperately to handle these airport operators, just like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monitors telecom companies.

Siva: Is the privatization of some existing airports and upcoming airports a partial solution to the growing air traffic?

Karma Paljor: Privatization will only do so much, because air traffic, security and immigration will still be with the government. It will take time for things to improve.

Viswanath: Do you justify the Airports Authority of India’s (AAI) decision to close the current airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad considering air traffic and number of passengers will increase? How secure are Indian airports in terms of terrorist attacks and drugs?

Karma Paljor: This is a big debate. We put this question across to the Civil Aviation Minister on out show State of Indian Airports. I personally think Bangalore and Hyderabad do need two airports. Let airports compete.

Pradeep: Many cheap and no-frills airlines have come up in the last few years. Do you think because of them the situation in airports getting worse?

Karma Paljor: Increase in traffic has put a strain on the infrastructure.

Shana: The Delhi airport has just eight X-ray units. That is shocking.

Karma Paljor: They are working on doing away with the X-ray machines. They will introduce inline baggage handling. Which means they will do the checks after you hand you luggage over to the airline like in most countries.

Amandeep: There are so many new airlines and flights but still passengers are delayed. Is it because we don’t have trained professionals who can manage air traffic and airports?

Karma Paljor: There are several issues behind aircraft delays. One reason is congestion at airports. Delhi and Mumbai are struggling with the increased number of flights. There is a shortage of ATC staff. Sometimes it’s the weather. Remember low costs airlines make money by maximizing aircraft usage, so if the aircraft is delayed at one station it affects other operations.

Kewal Khanna: Aviation industry in India is rapidly growing but the condition at most airports is horrible. The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi gives the impression of being a village. How long it is going to take us to be traveler-friendly and committed to service and convenience of the air traveller?

Karma Paljor: They say 2010 but I really do not know. Delhi was able to complete the parallel runway in time so let us see.

Parry: Access to airports and flights is a massive challenge to people with disability, elderly and injured. So much money is being spent on improving airports, why can’t a little bit of it be spent for these citizens?