"There is a queue to get into the terminal, another one to screen your bags, a third in front of the check in counters, then one to get your passport stamped, of course another one in front of security check and then there's the one at the gate to board your aircraft".[Jose Colaco citing BBC, May 15]
Four separate agencies may be involved in the six queues listed. Why is an integrated view of the "flow" not taken to streamline things? Maybe the standard reason: Create and protect (low grade!) employment in a seemingly uncompetitive airport environment. The result of literally decades of neglect due to an antediluvian mindset about civil aviation. But as we have seen there is competition among airports also (people "know" what it is like at other airports!) and our airport agenies have to start pulling up their socks -- fast. The above example is about airport terminals which constitute the visible tip of the proverbial iceberg. A similar situation prevails regarding runway utilisation. Yesterday's TOI says "Runway 14-32 [in Mumbai] is seldom used as it has a poor taxibay network". There are also problems of airspace due to which international airlnes transitting Indian skies are unable to take shorter energy and time conserving routes. The defence establishment takes a "see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil" approach in civil aviation matters even though it plays a decisive part in many of the inefficiences. So it is no wonder that Indian aviation infrastructure is categorised by some as "pathetic".
