Welcome to Kolkata airport! Here it can take around an hour after arriving on a flight to get one’s checked-in luggage.
Many passengers allege that the wait for their bags has been long irrespective of their time of arrival.
Earlier this week, a Kolkatan now staying in Bangalore came to the city on a holiday. “The flight arrived early, at 11pm. It was parked in a remote bay from where we were brought to the terminal on a coach. However, at the carousel, I had to wait for more than 45 minutes before my luggage arrived,” said the 23-year-old.
A Delhi-based professional who frequently flies to Kolkata for work said even during the day he has to wait at the baggage carousel for more than 40 minutes, almost every time, to collect his in luggage.
A woman who lives off VIP Road and frequently visits Mumbai said there she has to wait for less than 30 minutes to get her checked-in luggage.
An official of an airline said they have raised the issue of delayed baggage arrival with the Kolkata airport authorities several times.
Sources at the airport said there were a few reasons for the long wait, such as parking of aircraft in remote bays, lack of enough aerobridges (which prevent aircraft from being parked near the terminal building), shortage of ground handling staff and landing of multiple aircraft in quick succession in winter because of fog-induced delay in departure from other cities.
Tractors’ trudge
One of the main reasons for the delay is the distance tractor trolleys carrying the passengers’ luggage have to cover when an aircraft is parked in remote bays, said an official.
“The speed of the trolley cannot be more than 15km an hour because of safety rules. After the luggage is loaded on the trolley, it often has to cover around 3km to reach the terminal building,” said the official. “Often, the trolleys have to stop because of aircraft movement on the taxiway for take-off, which delays the process further.”
New parking stands have been built to accommodate more aircraft, which are further away from the building.
On reaching the terminal, the trolley goes down two floors to the basement through a ramp. The airliner loaders then place the luggage on belts that take them up two floors through a shaft to the ground floor of the arrival lounge.
Airport officials had said earlier that it would not take more than 20 minutes for the entire process to be over, but now it often gets delayed because of the increased distance.
More remote stands
Since the new integrated terminal became operational in March 2014, the number of aircraft the airport handles has almost doubled. In 2015, around 100 flights landed in Kolkata in a day. The number on December 19 was 191.
According to an airport official, a few years earlier, Kolkata had 55 parking stands for aircraft — 18 with aerobridges and 37 remote stands. Now, there are 73 stands — 18 with aerobridges and as many as 55 remote stands.
At night, most aircraft are allotted remote stands because the ones departing in the morning are allotted stands with aerobridges, said an official.
“The number of aerobridges has not increased since the commissioning of the terminal in 2014. But the number of aircraft has almost doubled and so more remote bays had to be built,” an official pointed out.
“We desperately need the expansion of the terminal. If the new building comes up as planned in the second phase, more aerobridges can be built,” he said.
“The new building will come up where the old domestic terminal stands. So, the distance from some of the remote bays will be reduced,” the official said.
The expansion plan has been delayed because of the Covid pandemic.
Airline problems
Airport sources said that although the number of aircraft and passengers has increased, the staff strength at the airport has remained the same, causing delays in baggage handling.
An airline official, however, said they have enough personnel to handle baggage.
“Because of operational reasons, many airlines in the domestic sector request for remote bays. Passengers can deboard or board through both front and rear doors in remote bays, which makes the process faster,” the official said.
Officialspeak
A senior official at the airport said there were no formal complaints from passengers recently about delay in receiving baggage. “If we get a complaint, we can look into it. We have formed a coordination team to address such problems and things have improved over the past few months,” said the official.