Passengers or Retail?
Who are airports for, really?
Landing into two cities for the first time recently felt ‘wowish’. Not really due to the city landing views, but the arrival halls at both Chandigarh and Lucknow were just delightful.
Wide walkways as you exit the aerobridge with clear views of the parked aircraft and apron, nice cool air conditioning, Chandigarh’s pleasant carpets and Lucknow’s great granite flooring et al.
Climb down a flight of stairs and the its an open and airy space with high ceilings, sparkling new looks. There’s really space to conduct a wedding so to speak! Well-marked baggage carousels with enough room to identify and pick bags travelling in a nice and easy pace.
At Chandigarh’s arrival hall one can hear the occasional ring of a bell - familiar from temple bells or prayer bells at my neighbours’s home. ‘Is that the saffronisation of the airport’, I wonder. Can’t find a fault with that when people in ones and twos and sometimes families flock in that direction with a religious stoop.
As curiosity takes over, I go around a large pillar, only to find that it is a chai-cart, inviting the attention of incoming travellers to do a ‘chai pe charcha’ while waiting for bags to be delivered by the airline. (As is usual, the first bag to come on the belt has finished two rounds, and no one is “interested” in it).
The characteristically Punjabi cart named “chaah walla” painted in yellow and orange among other colours serves up a variety of teas in a kulhad cup, and muffins, brownies and biscuits to go with it. Typically smoky and hot, the tea at ₹50 catches you by surprise in the current airport environment where even average-tasting ones cost 7 times more.
Lucknow’s arrival terminal is only a few days old (already with a leaking roof - our “viksit” concept is not rain-proof yet!). The large arrival hall is so friendly to the eye and the mind. Coming out of a ‘tube that flies’ (these narrow-body aircrafts are a lot smaller than their bigger cousins - the double-aisled ones), these huge arrival halls are a welcome relief.
Now it’s time to get back home.
Once again you’re at Chandigarh and on another day at Lucknow’s airport. Check in halls are quite large, particularly Chandigarh.
Post Security Check, Chandigarh and Lucknow airports have designed the passenger flow in a way you must walk past a set of retail stores - big international and national brands offering everything from toys and travel gear, to books, gadgets and dresses. The space is punctuated with tiny kiosks selling 200g packets of sweets for a paltry ₹499/- or 6 pieces of Lucknow’s ‘Tunday Kebab’ for ₹790! 2 humble idlis and a hot vada by the way costs ₹530/-. Tea comes at ₹350/-!
Cross over to the gates and that’s where the story changes dramatically. The space with a row of gates resembles nothing less than a bus stand that’s air conditioned and with well designed digital signage systems indicating where the flight departs to.
Someone sitting with legs stretched out is perfect recipe for a cup of coffee or tea to spill as the person holding the cup is sure to tumble over. Little kids trying to run navigating haphazardly kept bags in the limited space fall down; anxious mothers smother the kid’s butt and yell in such high volumes. The spilled tea now has a mixed design pattern depending on what shoes have gone over it.
A set of colleagues laughing over some industrial joke or a couple of them immersed in a ‘targets’ or ‘escalation’ discussion stand ‘here and there’ with one foot in some funny direction. This disrupts the flow of three grand old ladies stunned by the high ceilings, and at the same time lost, looking to find their gate. Perhaps in their mid-70s - all three short and silver-greyed - they are so cute, one can imagine how they walked to school holding hands, giggling and carefree!
Some people walk in one direction in slow motion, stare (I don’t know where), and then turn around and go the other way like a hen going in circles aimlessly. Invariably he will be right in front of a swirling airline staff rushing to a gate.
I get that Retail outlets at airports are important. They are a great way for passengers to kill time, and also make quick, price-led decisions! Window shopping too is fascinating, and very helpful in thumbing down the phone to see if similar designs are available on Ajio or Amazon!
But what about passenger comfort and ease of movement? Why can’t these departure areas have more space for passengers to move around, or have slightly smaller spaces for Retail? When newer airports are being designed and built to the expected massive surge and growth in air travel in the 2020s, is it too difficult to plan for bigger spaces at departures? Or is it illogical?
The ‘17-going-on-18-airline’ of India with ‘lean clean flying machines’ has more than 500 aircraft on order. They’ll soon be flying 27 hours a day! The TATA-owned AI has 470 orders of various aircraft. India’s baby airline ‘Akasa’ has more than 150 on order.
New routes are being announced. New airports are being built. The govt says the best in aviation is yet to come. The new Aviation minister says ensuring ease of travel will be a priority, laying emphasis on the high prices being a difficulty.
Sir, it’s not just price; space at departures is also a huge looming problem! Retail is good and required, but passengers must have more space, particularly at departures where they spend more time, than at arrivals where they are in a hurry to leave. It’s a no-brainer!
PS:
Travelling through Pune Airport (arrival or departure) is a thought that can create migraines
Departing out of Guwahati will invite migraines seamlessly as the staff there insist on cleaning the floor with those noisy machines when the departure floor is teeming with hundreds of chattering people
Transiting at Chennai or passing through through Coimbatore is a solid headache of an experience
Kozhikode is claustrophobic beginning with a ‘k’
Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai are perhaps the best in the country at the moment. Kochi too
Hyderabad’s newest expanded area is breathtaking in its size and scale
