Passengers, both domestic and international, who arrive at the Chennai airport, are forced to stand for long to collect their baggage.
For a long time now, Chennai airport has been facing delays in the baggage that get transported from the aircraft to the arrival hall of the terminal. Often, travellers tag the Twitter handle of Chennai airport or the airline asking for an explanation over the unreasonable delay in transferring the baggage from the aircraft to the conveyor belt at the terminal.
Venkat Sridhar, a passenger, posted: “@airindiain What is happening in Chennai International Airport, the flight came sharp at 7.17 pm but the baggage still did not reach the belt. standing for more than 1 hr near the belt. @aaichnairport”
Kaliappan Muthaiah, another passenger posted: “Why the baggage delivery in Chennai airport always late, when compared to all other airports in India. For international, it was two hours during Dec 16, and for domestic, today, it was 35 mins and still waiting.”
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) blame the delay on several flights landing in quick succession and lack of adequate manpower to transfer the baggage.
“We have held a few meetings with the ground handling agency and asked it to resolve the issue. Now, we have asked the agency to increase the manpower. It will be done by next week. There is a plan to have more firms for ground handling operations soon,” an official said.
