JOIN USCan 2nd Terminal, more staff reduce congestion at Bengaluru Kempegowda airport?
Can the launch of its second terminal (T2), tentatively scheduled for the last quarter of this year, end the congestion woes of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) here?
This is the question everyone is asking as immigration queues get longer and frustrating for passengers.
The commissioning of T2 will boost the airport’s terminal space by an additional 2.55 lakh sqm. Currently ranked the third busiest in the country, the airport has its existing terminal (T1)’s capped at about 1.55 lakh sqm, and is built to handle 35 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA).
Delayed by over a year due to the pandemic-linked worker shortage, the T2 will have an initial capacity of about 60 MPPA, eventually increasing to 90 MPPA, a Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) official informed.
The first phase itself will add a capacity of 25 MPPA. T2 was initially scheduled for a March 2021 completion, which was extended to March this year and later to June.
But the current capacity crunch at the immigration is also attributed to an acute shortage of personnel in a department that comes under the Centre. It is learnt that the airport officials had requested the Centre to fill up the vacancies several times since the rush of international passengers has increased considerably.
Having spent over an hour waiting for his turn at the immigration on Sunday, Grammy award-winner Ricky Kej had on Sunday slammed the airport’s system as pathetic.
Over 1,000 people, he had tweeted, were in the queue and not all counters were working. The staff, he alleged, were clueless and inefficient.
Airport officials said the pandemic had considerably increased the processes that arriving international passengers are mandated to go through once they land.
Kej referred to this, when he (tweeted and) listed the number of lines: “Air Suvidha check, Immigration, Check if immigration stamp is accurate, Baggage screening – Customs, Collecting bags, Customs may do additional screening. Steps can be reduced!”
The passenger numbers were manageable when international travel was limited to the bubble flights.
However, the gradual reopening of the flights has meant the traffic has increased without a corresponding rise in manned immigration counters. “They are overworked, especially during the night shift,” an airport source noted.
The onset of monsoons and a further increase in international arrivals are expected to aggravate the congestion over the next few months.
Since the upgraded first runway is still without Category-III Instrument Landing System (ILS), visibility issues could also trigger delays and disruptions.
One way out suggested to ease the congestion is speedy adoption of the Facial Recognition System (FRS) under the DigitYatra process with a centralised registration system for passengers. This, too, has been delayed.