Chennai airport still far from being a transit hub
Till September this year, more than 3.4 million passengers passed through the gates of the international terminal
Update: 2014-11-08 03:25 GMT
Chennai: Chennai airport, despite being tagged the ‘gateway to southern India’, is ill-equipped to be a transit hub for airlines, say aviation experts, referring to modernisation plans to this effect proposed in 2006 by then Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel. He had wanted Chennai to be a world-class hub.
“As far as international operations are concerned, it is geographically well placed to connect the South East, far East with Middle East, Africa and Europe. Domestically, it connects existing and emerging markets across the country, in general, with southern India, including Port Blair, more specifically,” says B. Govindarajan, chief operating officer, Tirwin Management Services (P) Ltd, an aviation consultancy firm.
Fast-forwarding to the present, though modern terminals, costing the public exchequer over Rs 2,000 crore, were inaugurated in January last year, the actual commissioning took place several months later. Worse still, the arrival hall of the international terminal is yet to see light of day due to shortage of customs manpower and immigration staff, according to an airport official.
In 2013-2014, Chennai airport handled about 4.54 million international passengers, registering a growth of nearly 2 per cent over the previous year. Till September this year, more than 3.4 million passengers passed through the gates of the international terminal.
Yet, despite its apparent growth in passenger numbers, International Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) chief D. Sudhakara Reddy fears the primacy of Chennai being lost to rival airports such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad “We are seeing continuing instances of poor upkeep of toilets, falling ceilings and glass panels,” he says, while remaining hopeful of the opportunity for Chennai to be a regional hub not being allowed to go waste.
Experts point out that Chennai faces a struggle to be an airline hub. Mr Govindarajan, one who has more than 30 years of experience in the aviation field, says, “The new airport terminal is not meant to be a hub with transfer connections. The new infrastructure doesn’t allow free flow of processes related to hub management.”
Furthermore, he says that the response of airport management to challenges faced by both passengers and air operators isn’t encouraging. “Air Asia India’s decision to shift to Bengaluru is the best example,” he says.
Even for airlines operating out of Chennai, the space constraint within the terminals is a prime issue.
“Chennai is by far the third largest market for most airlines in the country. It deserves a better airport than it currently has; there isn’t enough space inside the terminal for airlines to expand,” says a member of the Airline Operators’ Committee.
“It is of utmost importance that the new greenfield airport is planned with utmost vision, taking into account the shortcomings of the present one,” he said.
Data provided by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) shows a marked increase in terms of passengers, both domestic and international, handled by Chennai airport, in the period of the last five years.
Till September this year, about 6.7 million passengers, arrivals and departures combined, used the domestic terminal while the International terminal handled more than 3.4 million passengers. In total, the combined number (domestic and international) stands at 10.1 million passengers.
Significantly, for the months of April-September more than 7 million passengers used Chennai airport, registering an impressive 8.3 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year. Further topping it all, airlines operating out of Chennai too have either increased their frequencies or upgraded their flights, thereby providing better options for travellers.
British Airways last month introduced the Boeing 787 Dream liner flight on its Chennai service, thus making the city only the second market in India to enjoy the privileges of the ultra modern aircraft. The airline, which is the UK’s flagship carrier, also decided to make it a daily service, increasing the frequency from the earlier six times a week. Close on its heels came the Singapore-based Tiger Airways, which proposed to add two more flights, raising its total to nine weekly flights on the Chennai-Singapore sector.
“There is a large market for low-cost carriers flying to countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia. Maybe, it is due to passenger preference for flying really economical,” said Uma of Sathya Air Travels, Anna Salai. Endorsing this fact, an airline official added, “Today, people have a lot more flexible fare options to choose from and that has encouraged everyone to fly,” an official
added.