Bad toilets, poor internet connectivity and crowded parking spaces — passengers’ displeasure over such issues at the old terminals at Chennai airport has been backed by the findings of an Airports Council International (ACI) survey.
In its international benchmarking and customer satisfaction survey, ACI gave Chennai airport an Airport Service Quality (ASQ) rating of 3.21 out of five for the year 2012, which is much lesser its target of 4.1.
“The toilets were poorly maintained in the old domestic terminal. That apart, parking posed another problem as I found it very difficult to park near the terminal,” said Kishore Dandekar, a chartered accountant who frequently flies out of Chennai, giving vent to passengers’ complaints on cleanliness which is one of the 10 parameters on which the airport did not come out well. The others include availability of parking space, shopping facilities and internet connectivity. “The internet connectivity was atrocious in the old terminals. There were very few options for shopping too,” said Vignesh Shankar, a financial consultant, another frequent flyer. The airport was rated on a total of 33 parameters.
“The old terminals had several issues since the contractors poorly maintained many services. If we don’t pay heed now, then at some point, the airport may even be removed from the ACI list of airports,” said an official of the Airport Authority of India (AAI).
ACI is a body that comprises 597 member airports and airport authorities operating over 1679 airports in 177 countries.
The new domestic terminal was thrown open for public use in April and the new international terminal will be commissioned in a month’s time.
