"Indira Gandhi airport to be spruced up"

Friday, August 8, 2003

Indira Gandhi airport to be spruced up
The Times of India


NEW DELHI  - The government has decided to improve the look and feel of the
Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi by introducing services
and facilities that are in line with global standards.

New amenities being considered include a premium radio taxi service, a
porter service and fast-food outlets. A transfer passenger lounge is also
being considered at the international airport terminal with ''shower and
snooze'' facilities along the lines of the London Heathrow airport,
according to Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials.

The tender for this lounge is to be floated soon.

These steps, observers say, are temporary measures being put in place to
prepare the ground for the much-delayed privatisation of Delhi airport.

''All these new facilities will be in place by the year-end. We are not
investing much in these new facilities as most of it is being done in
partnership with private firms. But it would generate additional revenue for
AAI,'' say sources.

He says the aim is to bring the service standards at the Delhi airport at
par with international airports. ''They are not mere cosmetic changes, but
even improvements on the operational side and are aimed at making the
airport more passenger-friendly,'' the AAI official added.

The authority, along with the ministry of tourism, had recently provided
behavioural training on inter-personal dealing with passengers to 36
personnel and customer service to 110 employees stationed at the airport.

Special emphasis, he said, is also being laid on the security aspect
particularly after physical frisking of passengers was discontinued on the
insistence of civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

''Besides, an art gallery has been commissioned at terminal II of the
international airport...A coffee bar has also been proposed outside the
domestic arrival terminal. We are also linking the air traffic control (ATC)
flight timings with the AAI website to disseminate current information,''
the official said.


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