I have been traveling between Hyderabad and Bangalore quite a few times
over the past few months by air. The last time I had been through the
airport at begumpet was in early march, by that time, news was already
floating around that the airport would be shifted to shamshabad soon
and I was a bit sad about that, mainly because I would be a frequent
traveller in the domestic sector and the begumpet airport is just 25
min away from my place, so it was quite comfortable to book a ticket
and fly down to bangalore and was also quite comfortable while
returning back.
With the new airport situated around 30Km from my
place, I did’nt know what kind of hardships to expect other than the
long distance and higher expenditure from my pocket in commuting.
However,
the only consolation was the hype created in the television about the
new airport being built as per international standards and having
state-of-art infrastructure and facilities, having great malls for
shopping and having fun. Yet, being a domestic traveller, all the
shopping malls and state-of-art lounge facilities were irrelevant to me.
The
fateful day came in the first week of April when I had to travel to
Bangalore and I had a booked a ticket at makemytrip.com on spicejet, I
called up the airport call centre and asked for the pick-up locations
of the airport shuttle buses which I intended to use, they gave me the
location details and the frequency of operation of buses, I found
mehdipatnam was the best point to board the shuttle as it was both near
to my house and near to the airport compared to the other locations. My
flight was at 10:35 in the morning, but since this was my first time
experience with airport at shamshabad, I started quite early at 7:30
and reached the GMR bus stop at mehdipatnam at 8:00, the bus stop wore
a deserted look with only two people sitting there, the 8:00 clock bus
had just left and the next one was at 8:30. At 8:20 the GMR aero
express arrived, I purchased the ticket and boarded the bus, there were
few others who got in, but the bus was mostly empty, the bus started
promptly at 8:30 and dropped me at the airport at 9:10, that was a 40
minute journey.
My first feelings on getting down at the airport
were a mix of shock and despair, It was not an airport that I imagined
based on the hype created in the television and other media!! There was
nothing there actually, just an ATC tower and a long runway and this
airport building seperating the passengers from the planes.The moment I
entered the airport, I did’nt know where to get my boarding passes and
there were no directions and no one to guide, this confusion was not
just with me but with other first timers at the airport, finally we
asked a lady about the directions and she told us the same. Actually
there are two entrances at first floor, it depends on which entrance
you take to get in. Somehow I stood in the queue and collected my
boarding pass. After that, I passed through the security check and that
was it, you could see the airport lounge and the planes. I thought
"Where is all the state-of-art technology? Where are all the
ultra-modern shopping malls that were much advertised at prominent
locations in the city?".
I had travelled considerable number of
times on international sectors and got the opportunity to see airports
at KualaLumpur, Bangkok, Heathrow, JFK, Manchester, Dubai etc. and the
hype created about Rajiv Gandhi International Airport would lead anyone
to imagine it to be of similar standards as other international
airports, but when I saw this airport, forget about similarity, there
was nothing to compare actually, You need to have something to compare
and say "this is good and that is bad comparitively", but here you dont
have anything to compare with other international airports as far as
passenger facilities are concerned!!
I was more frustrated because I
started 3 hrs before the scheduled flight departure time, had it been
begumpet airport, I would have started at 9:30 and I only needed to
spend 50 Rs as the auto charge, now I had to spend 50 + 95 Rs and an
additional 2 hrs of my time and end up at an airport that doesnt have
anything better than what was at begumpet. I was feeling really hungry
and searched for an eatery, there was one place where they served
indian snacks, and the cost of buffet which consisted of idly + wada +
sambar was 150 Rs...I was really sick seeing all this !! Come on! whom
is the GMR / AP govt trying to fool?? I’m willing to spend money but
only if I got more comfort and more facilities, not to fund an
organisation like GMR or to serve the purpose of sonia gandhi or rajiv
gandhi or any other individual for that matter. Why did they ever
inaugurate this airport when there is a lot to be done?
I’m not
against the airport being shifted to shamshabad, but I feel it should
be based on a rational logic and should be thrown open to public when
everything is completed, not because 1 yr is completed or sonia gandhi
wants to inaugurate. In this aspect, I really appreciate the
authorities responsible for the new bangalore airport, they are taking
their time to complete and then deliver the airport to the public.
Also,
I dont see anything wrong in operating domestic flights out of
begumpet, none of the commonly accepted aviation rules say that there
should not be two airports for a city, you have JFK and La Guardia in
New York, London has Heathrow and Gatwick for short haul flights, it
just depends on the convenience of the general public !
You can fool the the entire public once, or some people all the time, but not all the people all the time !
Note:
Added to the frustration, there was a 30 min delay in departure of my
flight which normally happens with any airlines in this sector, finally
I took 6 hrs in all to reach my destination at bangalore, is it worth
it?? may be not..definitely not at this cost!