Ground realities

Experience at the Delhi airport shows that private management of airports has not benefited passengers so far.

NOT too many years ago, the Government of India decided to hand over the management and development of some of the countrys airports to private concerns. There was, understandably, some concern expressed by a number of people related to civil aviation and a degree of anger among the employees of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). But the government was not to be moved, and it went ahead with the plan. Among the airports chosen for the entry of the private sector were those in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Over the next few years, many of us watched as the new private ventures set about their work. In Hyderabad and Bangalore, two spanking airports have indeed come up but in areas considerably far away from the existing airports. This meant that the construction of the airports could be taken up, and completed, without the stress of an operating airport complicating the construction process.

In Mumbai and Delhi, the problem was much more difficult as the private operators had to build new airports in the midst of the tensions and complex operations of existing airports that were the biggest and busiest in India. In Mumbai, the interim developments have been generally welcomed by the travelling public, but the story in Delhi has been different, and unpleasantly so.

One of the apprehensions expressed, when these airports were given over to private organisations, was that while their competence was not in question, their culture and attitudes were. Given that the AAI was perceived by the media, and through them the public as inefficient and indifferent largely because of its poor projection of itself, and in part owing to its rather modest record of improvements no one could doubt that this organisations primary mandate was to develop and improve airports for the benefit of passengers.

The primary concern of the private organisations was naturally to make money, but, of course, also to provide better amenities and facilities to passengers and to those using the airport for transport of cargo. The worry was that the first would overshadow the second. While this has not, happily, happened so far in the case of the new airports, the case of the airport in the capital city of the country is something else. There is a considerable amount being done to improve conditions there, but the manner in which it is being done is sadly just what one had been afraid of. It is at the expense of the travelling public, the ones who pay to use the airport as they pay for their flights.

The difference is public relations, and even that is inadequate, perhaps, because the new managers simply do not know how to explain away the appalling harassment that passengers have to endure, both in the domestic terminals, where it is at its worst, and in the international terminals. The new management has settled for attractive signs saying Bear With Us, Building For A Better Tomorrow and so on. And that, unfortunately, is all.

Now, it is nobodys case that the process of renovating an existing structure is ever going to be a pleasant affair. Those of us who have gone through such an experience with a house or an apartment will be only too aware of it. But, given that, it should be possible to minimise the inconvenience and harassment and also to be more responsive to the reaction of passengers, who at times feel pushed to the extreme. None of this is evident in the mess that is Delhis airport today.

A few examples will suffice. While the provision for pre-paid taxis is very necessary in Delhi, given the citys unenviable record in the matter of crime, it surely ought to have occurred to the airports management that the existing arrangements for parking needs to be improved.

In fact, the management did say, to start with, that there was a new parking area, but those announcements vanished, rather rapidly, as the new parking arrangements did not materialise. Instead, the existing parking lot has become much worse, with parts of it dug up and left that way. The arrangements, for those whose lot it is to meet arriving passengers relatives (sometimes frail or elderly or both), friends, unaccompanied children, foreign visitors are positively nightmarish.

People mill around feverishly in an area that is, at night, badly lit, and has no personnel from the airport to help. All that the area has are screens displaying the status of flights, which are invariably incorrect, at least as far as the arrival of flights is concerned.

The domestic departure lounge has been changed, but in a manner that is inexplicable, to say the least. The hall has been extended, but the counters remain exactly the same, and the crowds at the security check stations are just as dense. Once past the security check, one sees a number of food stalls, but what one needs then is, primarily, a place to sit. And this is rarely available.

The size of the security hold area remains what the AAI had expanded it to be. The private managers have not added anything to it except some glitz in the form of advertising screens that doubtless fetch the management a good bit of money.

Not too long ago, a member of my family went to the assistant managers office to complain about the unbearable stench of urine at the Arrivals Hall. A distant, elegant young woman told her that the management was aware of the problem. That was the consolation offered, leaving one in awe of the omniscient nature of the management. The knowledge of the problem was, from the way the assistant manager put it, virtually divine; the resolution, alas, was predictably ineffective. It is, of course, we will be told, the fault of the passengers why should they need to relieve themselves after a flight?

We are not talking of a few elite users flying as a means of travelling. We are talking of 23 million people who travelled in 2007 alone, and over 24 million who have already done so this year, through the Delhi airport. That means a number that is greater than the population of many countries has passed through the infernal chaos of the construction and development of Delhi airport.

Again, it is not that there is no development going on; it is the monumentally clumsy and thoughtless manner in which the work is being done that causes concern. One is told that the renovation of the Mumbai airport was done in a far smoother manner. Certainly, the renovated airport is a pleasure to visit.

With private enterprise, its dark side is often hidden by glossy PR; sadly, the renovation of Delhis airport does not have even that fig leaf. Perhaps the management should take some lessons from Delhi Metro, a public sector organisation, not only in PR but in the manner in which construction was carried out in the most difficult conditions. True, there was a terrible accident recently; but it needs to be seen in the context of the enormity of the task the Delhi Metro has before it.

One makes this point as the urgency increases with the passing of each month. Passenger traffic in India has not gone down, going by recent reports. It is expected to increase by 2010. Will the private managers of Delhis airport have readied the airport for this?

Perhaps, but in what conditions those passengers arrive and depart will have to be seen. Given the mindset of the present management, the prospect is not very pleasant.