Happenstanced to Bengaluru International Airport on Sunday - the second day of its functioning. The first day of cut-over to the new airport would surely have had its challenges - as indeed the papers reported. But second day was not bad.
I guess that the drive upto Mekhri circle has its challenges, but then the drive from Hebbal flyover down the Bellary Road (NH 7) was a beauty. Except for six or seven traffic signals that halt the drive every once in a while, the drive itself is pretty cool. We did have to carefully maneuver past a few “crackers fields” - as enthusiastic election winners had taken over parts of the highway, and had laid long rows of “10000 Waalaas” and such crackers…
A red Volvo bus overtook the little Maruti that I was in…thats the Airport shuttle service, and it looks good, inviting. Shuttles, every 20 or 30 minutes or so, ply to and fro from the new airport to nine different points of the city.
From the Hebbal flyover point to the airport, without being in a tearing hurry, took us around half an hour, including the signal-stops. Thats not bad at all. Its not as if the airport is on the other side of the earth, as was rumored.
The exit from the highway to the airport is another beauty. You take off to the left of the hghway, drive up an overpass that swerves right and zooms down to level and you ease into a nice drive of a few kms to the new airport. And then you see the ‘airport in progress’. Here is a picture of the first sight of the beginning of the new airport complex.
First impressions: It is not aesthetically designed…but looks functional…
As you approach the terminal, there are some four or five security lanes - where all cars are stopped…A guide at each point, gave a quick intro about the regulations, handed us a brochure, and waved us in…Cool…Corporatization of Airport services…
Valet parking, tiered parking areas, fixed price porter services, shuttle and taxis…for a few dollars more…
Heres a picture of the front terminal of the airport.
This being just the second day, couldnt find trolleys easily. Somehow managed to find one and walked in. The entrance was the usual jostle that one sees in most Indian metro aiports.
Inside the terminal, the hall was abuzz.
The good thing was that there was no need to go for x-ray of checkin baggages first. You just walk to your airlines counter and checkin. And Checkin hasnt improved though. Perhaps the number of counters is not enough. Long queues could be seen in almost all counters…
Business lounges etc are yet to be done. There were two little eateries which you can go to, after the security check point.
So, what then were the little pain points that one faced…
- The exit lane from NH7 that takes you to the airport has a security-check stop. That creates a bottleneck as this is a single lane, one car at a time, inspection point.
- The drop off lanes near the terminal are not broad enough. Creates a choke of cars.
- The approach from the drop off point to the terminal entrance can be improved.
- There dont seem to be enough security-check counters…also, the designers havent thought through the finer points…the bags that come out of the security-check x-ray unit, remain out of reach of the passengers who wait for it on the other side. It needs the security men to pick it up and hand over, and that is not their job….
- Wash rooms…Numbers, quality…
- The departure counters are also choke points. The design of the hall is such that there is no easy way to queue up to the counters, as rows of chairs have been fixed right upto the counters….Wonder who thinks these up…
- All done, when one got into the plane…it was “hot”….thats nothing to do with the airport…thats the Airlines, and in this case it was ‘Jet Airways’…for some reason, they didnt step up the Air-conditioning till the flight took off…and considering the wait-time on ground before take off, it was a ’stew time’ (Now I know why they are called ‘Flight Stewards’ 
).
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The view after take off was nice. Lots of land belongs to the aiport complex. One could see that they have planted a lot of green….One reads that Bangalore International Airport Limited has been given 4000 acres of land there - which they plan to develop as “hot” real estate….Goodbye green!
All in all: Thums up…but there is way to go…
