Mumbai airport not among top 100

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport does not find a place in the top 100 airports of the world according to a survey by Skytrax, World Airport Survey. Skytrax claims its survey to be the largest passenger survey of airport product and its services.

The city did not even feature in the top 10 Asia region categories including best domestic airports, best premium airports and best low-cost airports. Although Mumbai is trying emulate Shanghai and Singapore, it has clearly failed. In fact, Singapore’s Changi Airport was judged as the best airport – it was second in the 2012 survey.

The survey was based on 12.1 million questionnaires by airline customers from 108 nationalities and conducted in the nine-month period in 2012 and 2013.

Skytrax, on its website, stated that it covered more than 395 airports. The parameters for ranking included passenger experience on 39 airport services and products. The key performance indicators include ease of access, public transport options, language skills, check-ins, arrivals, shopping, infrastructure, security, immigration to departure and customer perception of security and safety standards. Hyderabad, Delhi and Bengaluru are the only ones to feature in the top 100 ranking.

Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport ranks 65, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport 69 and Bengaluru International Airport ranks 73 in the survey. Besides Hyderabad which improved its ranking from 77 in 2012, both Delhi and Bengaluru have slipped in their rankings.
Tour operators say Mumbai airport lacks in various aspects, including toilet facility. “Although it has improved, the airport does not have the comforts of other international airports. People expect comfort and ambience at the airport,” said Sudhir Patil, director of Kesari Tours Pvt. Ltd. “Guests have to take a long walk from the terminal to car parks and international flights land only at night unlike Singapore,” he said.

Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said services are still being upgraded. A MIAL spokesperson said the process to upgrade the services and facilities is still underway. “For the last three years, CSIA has been receiving awards from prestigious organisations like Airports Council International. Ever since GVK has started upgrading the airport, there has been a vast change in facilities and services. Other airports are Greenfield airports (on the outskirts of the city) unlike Mumbai, which is in the heart of the city,” she said.