I have not seen or heard anything about Bangalore Airport in your columns The city I was born and raised for a while. The Silicon Valley of not only India but also the whole world. But alas my question is ’ Do we have a decent aiport of Int’l standards in Bangalore???
In 2003 I travelled from LAX to BLR via KL. After being in KL airport for some hours flying into BLR airport was a nighmare. First of all there were 2 planes that landed at the same time. A lufthansa from Frankfurt and mine a Malaysia Airlines from KL.
This was absolute chaos atleast per Indian standards. After standing in the line for about an hour I approached the Immigration counter. There were about 4 people I could see behind each counter. One opens the Passport, second types something in the computer, third stamps the passport and the fourth gives you the passport. I had heard that they even tear the passport pages and demand money. So I kept an eye on this. Thus it took 4 people to process one passport, talk about the IT revolution !!!!
Next was the customs. Well there was no customs counter I could see. I saw a person in a white uniform with a pen in hand and paper and asking whether we had any Gold, money or dutiable items. When I said no he said to go. This was fast!!!.
The Departure terminal was slightly better. The only good thing of the entire airport was the bathrooms. It was clean and spotless. This may be because it was quite new.
As they say first impressions make the best impression. But travelling to any Indian airport is the worst anybody can encounter. Though I was born in India I am pretty comfortable with poor facilities but the Indian Airports are a brand apart. They are just plain filty and disgusting.
PS: I have heard that the new Bangalore International Airport is coming up. Further I will be touching down in BLR again in November. I will note any changes in these columns.