Domestic air traffic in India has soared to a record high in December since the days of COVID. Domestic passenger numbers have crossed 4 lakh on seven occasions in the first nine days of the month.
The unfettered rise in passenger numbers has been accompanied by a surge in passenger complaints. People are taking to social media in dozens to complain about the long wait times at just about every step before flying and more so at Delhi and Mumbai. Ironically, the Delhi T3 and Mumbai T2 are the most awarded airport terminals in the country.
Where are the problems and what do the numbers say?
From getting inside the terminal to security and queueing for immigration —the complaints revolve around areas where the airport operators do not have direct control. Passengers are complaining of long lines to get inside the airport—where a mandatory ID check and ticket check are done.
This is also followed by complaints, in some cases, of long queues at check-in. But the biggest of complaints are from security lines, mostly at Delhi T3. Delhi airport hasn’t crossed the pre-COVID numbers, even as it is more connected than before on the domestic side with 78 destinations currently as compared to 72 pre-COVID.
The problem lies in the expansion of DIAL which has led to additional passengers being funnelled via T3 and the opening up of T2 as T1 undergoes expansion. Recently, the airport opened an arrivals facility at T1 but until the full expansion is complete—a redistribution of flights and subsequent solutions look distant.
The airport expansion project was only 73.2 percent complete as of the end of September. This project involves taking up the capacity from 66 million annual passengers to 100 million.
In December 2019, airlines were deploying an average of 3,061 domestic departures a day and carrying 418,722 domestic passengers. Currently, the average passenger count is nearly there with 406,112, while the number of flights is lower at 2,790, roughly 261 flights lower per day. Essentially, an airline is carrying nearly the same number of passengers with fewer flights and is driven by higher load factors. In simple terms, that means more passengers are travelling per flight.
Also read: 'Have been through hell’: Passengers describe chaos at Delhi airport's T3
What are the solutions being worked on?
One of the solutions being worked out is DigiYatra —where the personal details of the passenger are stored and there is a separate queue to proceed. While passengers have reported this to be a faster process and are encouraging others to use it, it is unclear how the airports can handle the traffic if there is a sudden surge in the use of DigiYatra.
Distributing flights
At Delhi airports, flights are being re-distributed amongst terminals with flights from T3 being reduced and shifted to T1 and T2 wherever possible. In addition, peak-hour flights are also being curtailed.
If flights are curtailed instead of being redistributed, there is a risk of a further increase in fares, which will see complaints again from passengers. Peak-hour flights are being curtailed to 14 at T3, 11 at T2 and eight at T1.
Additional security points
Delhi airport has implemented ATRS (Automatic Tray Retrieval System), which is intelligent enough to categorise items inside the tray as RED or GREEN and send only limited trays for re-check or manual check. However, not all men and machines are being used to true potential, further delaying the process.
Security cannot be compromised and thus speeding the process for the sake of it is definitely not advisable. But after the visit of the Minister of Civil Aviation, Delhi airport along with BCAS and CISF is working on additional manpower at peak hours to have additional lanes open for security.
What more can be done?
Delhi airport has distinct security lanes for domestic and international, unlike Mumbai’s Terminal 2. With the domestic peak and International peak being out of sync, some lanes of international security could be diverted for domestic use by remodelling the area and opening additional security lanes, which could help.
Another aspect to look at is being strict on check-in luggage. To avoid paying higher for limited check-in allowances, people tend to carry more check-in baggage. Airlines are forced to announce free check-in at the boarding gate without which there will be challenges of fitting all the luggage in overhead bins.
But the hand luggage creates another issue before the boarding gate—at security, thus eating up additional time to remove items from the bag (chargers, wires, etc) and place the bag on the tray.
Tail Note
Flying has changed drastically in the last few years, more so after COVID. It is important to look at processes and human factors as well. More often than not, one sees passengers struggling to find their boarding pass and ID on the phone. This is a process which that hitherto paper driven and passengers had that in their hand.
A collaborative effort of airport operators, ministry, CISF, BCAS, immigration and supported by passengers is needed urgently as the hope is that the passenger numbers will stick to these levels and not fall drastically from here on. As we aim to climb the top aviation market charts and sit alongside London or Paris as global hubs, currently all that we are matching with London is long queues.
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