Service Standards At Major Indian Airports To Be Closely Monitored!
The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Of India(AERA) has announced that they will soon start monitoring the quality of passenger service at major Indian airports.
The authority will check if big Indian airports are meeting the service standards they have promised, in terms of time taken for various processes like check-in, security check and immigration.
AERA is responsible for fixing tariffs for Indian Airports which handle more than 15 million air travellers in a year. They are responsible for deciding the taxes, such as User development Fee, that a passenger has to pay.
They have said that AERA will start linking passenger service quality at an airport to determine the tariffs. They will start penalizing airports with sluggish services and reward those where passengers can breeze through the airport.
This decision has been taken to stop the congestion at airports during peak travel hours. Their concern is that airports have started to resemble overcrowded railway stations, where serpentine-like queues are a common site at check-in desks, security checks and immigration counters.
This has mainly happened because private airport operators and Airports Authority of India (AAI) have failed to meet the infrastructural demands after air travel exploded over the last few years.
According to AERA’s Chairman, Mr. S. Machendranathan, they will be appointing consultants to measure the quality of services provided at big airports. If the service standards are not met, AERA will start penalising them.
Hopefully, with this, airports will now make an extra effort to make sure that an air passengers journey through the airport is hassle-free.