M'lore airport makes a comeback, improves ranking

Airport Authority of India gives it 4.38 out of 5, while Trichy gets 4.69

After the fliers’ gave a thumbs down in the second half of 2013, the Mangalore airport has bounced back this year by improving its standing from a dismal 27 to 14 in an official survey of 51 small airports.

According to the bi-annual Customer Satisfactory Survey conducted by Airports Authority of India (AAI) in small airports with less than 15 lakh passengers a year, the Mangalore airport got 4.38 points in a scale of five, while the toppers Jodhpur airport got 4.71 and Trichy 4.69. 

Though it could manage to find a place in the top-ten as in the early 2013, the Mangalore facility did manage to improve its standing in the first half of this year after a free fall to 27th position in 2013 end with a score of 4.12. The airport in Hubli also improved its ranking from 19th last time to 17th this time. The Mysore airport, a new entrant in the list, is ranked 24 with 4.02 points.

The airports were evaluated on 33 parameters, which included availability of baggage trolleys, parking facility, waiting time in check-in queue, waiting time for security clearance, cleanliness, and speed of baggage service.

In the Mangalore airport, fliers gave the highest marks of 4.59 to ambience as well as arrival identification and passport verification facility, followed by speedy baggage delivery at 4.55 and availability of ATM at 4.52.

Last time, cleanliness of washrooms and airport terminal -- 4.66 each -- got the highest points but this time, the score came down to 4.29 and 4.45 respectively. Fliers were least impressed with the parking facility giving just 4.12 out of five.

Jodhpur managed to keep its top slot with an overall score of 4.71. Fliers to Jodhpur were hugely impressed with the courteous staff and shopping facilities getting 4.78 followed by restaurant facilities and flight information screens at 4.75.

Three airports at Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Chandigarh came third in the survey with a score of 4.65.