Chaos on the ground

Nobody seems to know what has changed in the past week or so to make Delhi Airport-the busiest in the country-such a no-go zone

From anecdotes narrated by friends and family as well as from on-ground reports, it’s clear that you now need at least seven hours to fly from New Delhi to Mumbai even without check-in luggage if you count the time taken at the home airport. In case you check in your baggage and also factor in the time taken to collect it from the reclaim area at the destination airport, you could end up spending eight to nine hours for a flight of just 2.15 hours. This has triggered a conversation on the benefit of shifting from plane to train with cost and time analysis, which goes against the reverse narrative so far. But nobody seems to know what really has changed in the past week or so to make Delhi Airport — the busiest in the country — such a no-go zone.      

Initially, the airport chaos looked like the holiday season rush, especially in the time of post-pandemic revenge travel. But numbers suggest that passengers have not increased much from the pre-Covid level. In the absence of a clear reason, different elements in the aviation ecosystem have been blamed for the mess. First airlines were told to reschedule their flights during peak time and shift some of them from the crowded terminals to the less crowded ones. They were also advised to reduce the number of flights during peak hours. It’s another matter that the definition of peak time was fuzzy. And it’s still another matter that dropping and rescheduling flights would mean further mess. When the re-arranging of flights didn’t yield result in terms of making the Delhi airport more orderly, the government came out with a five-point action plan by combining the earlier diktats with some new ones to set things right. The five-point plan included displaying digital boards at the entrance showing wait time at each gate, mandatory manning of airline check-in counters, increasing the automatic tray retrieval system machines for security check, deploying more people for immigration counters and reduction of flights in the 5 to 9 a.m band. When that too failed, officials hinted that multiple trays used by every passenger for jackets, coats and electronic devices were at the centre of the menace, clogging the system. Then from the five-point action plan, the focus shifted to airlines and they were called out to bring order. A government inspection reportedly found several airline counters unmanned. Immediately, airline companies were told to hire adequately to ensure the check-in counters were fully manned. Leaving nothing to chance, the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture has summoned the Chief Executive Officer of Delhi International Airport (DIAL), Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, for a meeting on Thursday. No points for guessing that the topic of discussion would be airport congestion. GMR-led DIAL is under the scanner elsewhere too. For instance, the Airports Authority of India has issued a notice to DIAL for its ‘’deficient passenger services’’, saying that it has the power to impose a penalty too.

Incidentally, DIAL had recently got a capacity study conducted by a UK-based air traffic management firm. The study had said that Indira Gandhi International Airport could double its capacity to 140 million (international and domestic put together) annually by the turn of the decade, from around 69 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

On airport capacity, a 2015 global report by McKinsey had highlighted some important points. After looking at some of the most crowded airports in the world, like London, Tokyo and Beijing, it had said that passenger growth flattens and the city loses overall in an airport congestion scenario. The study had also touched upon the idea of formalising the trading of slots, which can be a valuable asset in constrained hubs. Additionally, the McKinsey report had initiated the idea of airlines having to support airport expansion.  

Some of those ideas floated eight years ago may still not be dated and can be considered by aviation authorities in the Indian context. But right now some early solutions are required rather than summoning airport officials and blaming airlines. This is time for action. As someone associated with the aviation bureaucracy pointed out, the current problem is both cyclical and structural. Cyclical refers to increased flights, bunching in peak hours and the inflexible response of the security apparatus. The structural problem is about the front-office area (where passengers do their pre-boarding formalities) being quite small compared to the total area. For example, there’s never much traffic in the shopping area. Also, airlines are forever wanting to operate from T3 (the integrated terminal for both international and domestic) rather than T1 and T2.

Finally, the medium- and long-term solution to the Delhi airport chaos is to get a second airport for the NCR region. While all eyes are on the Jewar airport in Noida, for which Zurich Airport has signed up as partner, the authorities must make sure that international quality, efficiency and safety are the main objectives and not who the airport is named after or who inaugurates it. Zurich airport has been judged the best airport for close to two decades now by IATA. One can just walk through the airport gates there without having to stop for multiple scanning. There’s hope that the Jewar airport would do the same. Passenger convenience, and not commercial activities at the airport, should be the focus. That would be the real leap in airport modernisation.