15.11.10

Full-fledged domestic operations begin at Delhi's T3




Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways moved their domestic operations to the terminal on Sunday. With this, full-fledged domestic operations finally started at the new integrated terminal T3. The shift was relatively smooth, barring delays in the first half of the day and problems with baggage claim. Passengers also reported getting lost in the huge terminal due to lack of sufficient signages. Air India, that had so far been operating alone from the terminal and facing severe mismanagement issues, saw a slight improvement in its performance. Airline sources said the morning saw delays as it took the staff a while to get used to T3. The size of the airport, while fascinating to some, was a pain for others. Baggage claim was another problem. An airline official said it took a minimum of 15 minutes for the baggage to come from the aircraft to the baggage make-up area and hence a 20-25 minute wait for passengers would be the least they would have to face.
The much-touted northern access road that was to make commuting easy for those heading to the new Terminal 3 lay practically unused on its first day of operations. With absolutely no signages to guide commuters to the road, that deceptively starts close to the domestic terminal, barely a handful of vehicles looked for it and drove down the empty stretch to T3. Sources said the DDA was responsible for putting up signages for the road and would do so in a day or so. With so much work going on, the exit route from the airport was also quite a curvy ride for passengers.

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