‘As per estimates, at least 50% of the space inside the terminal building is taken up by retail outlets’.
NEW DELHI: The long serpentine queues and massive rush at the Delhi airport might have been temporarily curtailed after Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia intervened earlier this month following outrage by passengers on social media, but airline enthusiasts and frequent flyers claim that the airport operators and the government will have to look into long term solution to avoid a similar situation every year keeping in mind the growing air traffic each year.
As the passenger traffic at airports are growing, the space within the airport terminal building is shrinking due to more spaces within the terminal building being rented out to retail outlets as this brings a large chunk of revenue to the airport operators. The airport terminal map uploaded on the Delhi airport’s website also gives a glimpse of how much space retail outlets have taken up inside the terminal building at the Delhi airport. According to estimates drawn from the map, at least 50% of the space inside the terminal building is taken up by retail outlets. The Delhi airport Terminal 3 has around 30,000 square feet of retail spaces. The terminal has 11 lounges, 40 dining outlets, 56 retail outlets including spa services, shopping centres, a large duty free, a bank and multiple ATMs.
Earlier this month, the Parliamentary panel on Transport, Tourism and Culture was told that the security infrastructure within the Delhi airport has “frozen over time” as it has not been able to keep pace with the growing traffic of air travellers in India. After which this Parliamentary panel summoned the Chief Executive Officer of Delhi Airport, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar to seek details over the steps he has taken to ensure smooth and secure flow of traffic within the airport in Delhi.
The airport operator for every airport is responsible for providing infrastructure for security checks, X Ray machines, customs services, immigration services kiosks, airline counters, baggage handling belts amongst such services as required by the operator. The Delhi airport is operated by GMR group.
Air traffic in India is seeing a steep rise over the last few years, except for a slump which was witnessed during the Covid 19 pandemic. According to official data, India is one of the fastest growing civil aviation markets in the world and the air passenger traffic is growing by 11% every year. Delhi airport has also witnessed a massive growth in the air traffic passenger and as compared to 2019, the air traffic passenger at the Delhi airport has seen almost a three fold growth, from just 60,000 passengers that Delhi airport handled each month in December 2019, the traffic grew to almost 1,80,000 passengers in November and December this year.
However, the security infrastructure at the Delhi airport remained the same as it was during 2019, according to officials at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The Delhi airport’s Terminal 3 presently has 13 X Ray machines for screening of baggage before a passenger enters the security hold area (SHA), which is capable of handling and screening baggage for 15 flights, but during the peak hours, Delhi airport sees around 17 to 18 flights per hour.
Scindia after his visit to the Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport has instructed that a lounge which has been built inside the airport be demolished and additional security area be created for the smooth facilitation of the passengers. He also said that during the morning rush hours, Terminal 3 of the Delhi airport will not handle more than 15 flights per hour and later in the day, not more than 16 to 17 flights per hour.
Scindia has also promised to increase the X-ray and screening metal door frame to be increased to 16 at the moment and eventually to 20. Apart from this, he has also asked all the airlines to ensure that all their counters are manned during the peak hours, so that passengers are not inconvenienced.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation also raised concerns over the decreasing space inside the terminal building at the Delhi airport where in according to the ministry a majority of the space within the terminal building has been leased or rented out to retailers who operate a variety of shops which ranges from high end shopping brands, to eateries and multiple lounges. The Ministry also said that the primary duty of the airport operator is to facilitate passenger movement and retailing is their secondary source of business.
According to Delhi airport’s annual report of 2022, around 46% of the revenue that the airport earned from non-aeronautical services included from these retail stores in the financial year 2021-2022. The total revenue which the Delhi airport earned from the non-aeronautical services also was much more than the revenue it earned during the said financial year. During the financial year 2021-2022, Rs 16579.8 million as part of non-aeronautical revenue, while from the aeronautical services which the airport authority provides like that of landing and parking, baggage X-ray, User Development Fee, etc, it has earned Rs 6,724 million. Incidentally, the Delhi Airport collects the user development fee from the passengers travelling through the airport as part of their ticket price which goes towards security arrangements and infrastructure.
However, sources within the Delhi airport have rubbished such charges of the Civil Aviation ministry and while speaking to The Sunday Guardian, a senior officer from Delhi Airport said that the airport has not occupied any space within the airport which is meant for security purposes and that the airport has provided a large space within the airport terminal building for the security and immigration.
“We have already provided large spaces within the airport, it is the aviation security officers, which includes the CISF and immigration officers that are not being able to man their counters with full staff strength. If you had visited the airport at the rush hour, you would notice that many of the immigration counters are unmanned, and some of the security sections are also unmanned. The airlines who had removed their staff from their jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic have not been able to replenish them back till now and their counters remain unmanned. CISF and the immigration staff also taken off duty during the Covid are not put back on duty at the airport,” the airport officer quoted above said.
However, CISF officials responsible for security at the airport said that their staff strength is full and they have never cut down on their staff. “As a force that comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, we have a sanctioned strength and we cannot reduce the staff strength without the approval from the Ministry. We are also providing additional staff at the airport during peak hours; therefore, this is incorrect that we have removed our staff. The airport operator in fact should provide us with more X-ray machines and metal detectors and in turn we are seeing that every month they are leasing out more and more space to the retailers inside the airport,” the CISF officer told The Sunday Guardian.