Indian air travel

I am a big fan of Indian railways but this time i got to try out Indian domestic flights. Luckily in a 7 day trip , i got to witness 5 domestic airports - Nagpur, Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai and Kolkatta. As for my international flight, it was from Delhi. So overall, i can say i have seen 6 Indian airports within a span of 20 days.

I have heard many ppl saying 'Indian airports are no way close to foreign airports.' This post is my analysis of Indian airports and some constructive suggestions to critique the above line.

Let me start by saying this: Anyone can make a good building, good architecture if one has large spaces. Big things, Spacious rooms always give an aura of magnanimity. BUT, the best designs are the ones which can use space efficiently. Doing more things in less space yet making it comfortable is hallmark of great design.

In the light of above statement, I think Indian airports have a lot of potential to be improved tremendously by minor changes. There is a great opportunity. Yes, we do need bigger airports but the existing ones can also be made to work better.

Almost indian domestic airports are designed similarly. They were almost a copy of each other. Their architecture can be described as a COMB architecture where the base of comb is the searing place and comb teeth are the terminals. Compare this to a foreign airport architecture, they have a center aisle with teeth coming out at 60 degree angles. Each tooth acts as a terminal. This design scores both in scalability and efficiency compared to the COMB architecture which is by design not scalable.

But Indian airports can still flourish with the COMB architecture as the number of people flying is still not that high. One of the major complaints is that there is not enough space for people to sit as all terminals are located at the same place. This can be solved easily by adding one more floor over the comb base.

A place where Indian airports score over their international counterparts is their use of seals to lock bags and suitcase. This is a brilliant idea. In foreign countries, bags are generally unlocked making them susceptible to thefts. But Indians have devised a clever way around this problem. Bags are sealed before the take off and it is the responsibility of the airline. This is a perfect example of doing more with less.

Another good part about Indian airports is their trolley system. Not only it is free but it has got automatic brakes. They are bigger as well. I was very impressed.

One major disappointment was the shops inside the airport. I am not sure whether it was due to high surcharge for shops inside airports or if they were trying to portray some different image. But all products inside those shops were foreign from as small as chocolates (Not a single one had cadbury but everyone had toblerone/snickers) to cookies etc. Airports in US also have over prices stuff but atleast the items are same as what is available outside. You can have overpriced items here as well but atleast sell some Indian stuff.

I think the main point is that Indian still do not view air travel as a mode of transport. The ideology is still that it is a luxury. While this is true if numbers are seen but practically, middle class people are also using airports frequently. Once the ideology change happens, things will start to fall in place.

Another major crib point is the maintenance of restrooms. This is understandable as the restrooms were not maintained well. But what amazes me is that Shulabh can maintain a restroom clean in a railway station while airport authorities fail to do so. One of the major points is that there is always water on the floor. My point is that since we have adopted so many western customs, why can't we adopt paper instead of water at airports. I state this only from the standpoint of cleanliness and commuter convenience and for no other reason. I believe this a minor and easy to implement(adjust ?) change.

Coming to the flights, Indian flights are mirroring their foreign counterpart. You have to pay to get food.In some atleast water was free but not in others. I think adding another 100/200Rs and providing food is not a bad option at all.

Another thing to appreciate about Indian flights is that they are making genuine efforts to ensure that flights ply on time. I think Indigo has made it their USP. This is good thing despite fog and other constraints.

To sum it up, my experience was overall positive about Indian air travel. But on any day, i will prefer railways over air travel.