Rakesh and family arrived around noon on Friday at the domestic terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport, to take a flight to Bengaluru, for a short vacation. At the entry point, they were shocked when the security personnel told them after checking the tickets that their flight will be taking off from the international terminal, six km away. The family scrambled out, hailed an autorickshaw and raced to the other terminal.
This is not a one-off occurrence. For the past few months, this has been a recurring scene, sources who work in the airport and autorickshaw drivers here say. Ever since domestic flights began to be shifted from the domestic to the international terminal, many have been coming here unaware of the change.
“In the tickets, the new terminal will be marked as terminal 2. But, people usually end up here at the old domestic terminal, because obviously domestic flights are supposed to take off from here. At least a few end up missing their flights.
The Delhi flight of the Air India in the mornings was recently shifted. Same happened with the Bengaluru flight too.
When they started the Air India Express flights to Mumbai, it was started from the international terminal, despite the flights being domestic. Now seeing this, private airlines such as Jet Airways have also shifted there, for their Mumbai flight,” says an employee of the airport on condition of anonymity.
‘Easy for passengers’
Shibu Robert, acting Director of the airport, says some flights were shifted to the international terminal to make it easy for passengers.
“Yes, there has been some confusion as passengers have not been informed properly. But, things will be sorted out soon. One of the reasons to shift the Delhi flight is that a lot of VIPs use it and the new terminal is closer to the city. Also, some of the other flights that were shifted are flying international routes, during the return travel. So, earlier we used to tow it from the domestic to the international terminal. Now, that time can be saved,” says Mr. Robert.
‘Income hit’
It is not just the passengers who are complaining. The head-load workers and autorickshaw drivers here are concerned at the fall in earnings owing to the cutting down of flights.
“We have started feeling the pinch owing to shifting of these flights. We have been running from this area for decades. When, the new international terminal started, our earnings reduced quite a bit. Now, with these few flights also being shifted, we are really concerned. We believe this could be the start of the phased shutting down of this terminal. Most of our families living around here had given up our lands for this terminal. Now, if it is closed down, it will be a huge blow for several of us who depend on it for our livelihood,” says Lawrence, an autorickshaw driver.
Valiathura ward councillor Tony Oliver says all political parties will come together to protest if the shifting of flights from here to other terminals continues.
Mr. Robert says there is no plan as of now to close down the existing domestic terminal, though the authorities are looking for land near the new terminal for setting up a new domestic terminal.
