Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday, 24 July, gave a month to the management of Chennai International Airport to improve cleanliness, appearance and overall situation of the airport.
Raju said that he will visit the airport anytime after a month to check the situation.
The minister held a meeting with the Secretary of Civil Aviation, Chairman and Senior officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to review the performance of the Chennai International Airport, especially in view of the complaints received regarding poor upkeep and lack of facilities.
On the orders of the Minister, senior officers of the Ministry of Civil Aviation conducted a surprise check on 18 July at the Chennai International Airport and reported back to the Minister with photographic evidence of the pathetic maintenance of the airport.
The Minister expressed concern over the state of affairs and has stressed on the need to provide proper hygienic conditions and amenities, including enough parking facility to the passengers.
He has directed the officials to take all possible measures to improve the condition of the airport and raise its standards keeping in tune with other airports abroad. He also said that he would visit the airport in the near future to personally take stock of the situation.
The Minister took this step after a debate on the bad condition of the airport was taken up in the Parliament.
However, the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) worldwide survey, by Airports Council International (ACI), has ranked the Chennai airport second, after ICN-Seoul Incheon Airport, and states that the services are good in quality and satisfy the needs of travelers. ACI has taken Airports Authority of India maintained airports as a base to decide the rank.
"In the ACI survey, Chennai Airport has scored 4.30 points in the Quarter-II (April-June) this year as compared to 4.10 points in the Quarter I (January-March). This rating has earned the airport second position among all the airports managed by Airports Authority of India (AAI)," the Union Civil Aviation Ministry said on Wednesday.
"This rating is also above the MoU target set by the Ministry of Civil Aviation which is 4.20. With this, Chennai Airport has climbed to the 56th position in the rank list as against the 114th position in the Quarter I. The reported highest rating is 4.98 for Quarter II scored by ICN-Seoul Incheon Airport."
ACI conducts the survey among 220-225 International airports on quarterly basis. It considers 33 parameters to assess the satisfaction level of passengers, both international and domestic, on a 5-point scale.
