BENGALURU: Passengers arriving at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) are upset over the long queues at the immigration counters of late, apart from the long wait for one’s car to arrive from the parking zone to the pick-up area. Data scientist Bijit Deka, who reached the city during the weekend, tweeted, “Landed at Bengaluru airport at 2.20 am. Immigration took approximately 2 hours. Luggage took another 30 mins. Total number of people in my flight alone=150. Wastage of 300 man hours!”
Another flyer, Prashant Dayal, tweeted: “Terrible immigration queues at the Bengaluru international airport. Disastrous management and completely unapologetic behaviour. Are we really moving forward? @BLRAirport. Why..oh why have so many flights when there is no capacity and ability to manage the show? 1 hour+.”
The chaos outside the airport before heading home irked author Nandita Iyer, who arrived here from Dehradun on Sunday. She told TNIE that she had waited nearly 40 minutes at the pick-up area before her pre-booked cab could reach from the parking lot. “I reached the airport by 7.45 pm and it took me nearly 10 pm to reach home. It was a very stressful experience. Cabs were blocking the lanes and waiting to pick up passengers. No one was paying any heed to the three airport staff trying to regulate the traffic flow here,” she said.
Asked about these issues, a BIAL source said, “We are closely coordinating with Immigration and CISF officials to ensure they are doing their best in deploying adequate staff. We have also ensured sufficient support and designated lanes are available for the elderly and passengers with infants.”
Stressing that staff at Bengaluru airport were working round-the-clock to regulate the crowd during the holiday season, she said, “In order to accommodate both domestic and foreign traffic during peak hours, we have transformed two international automated tray retrieval system lanes into swing lanes.” All checkpoints have well-trained staff to ensure crowd rerouting and distribution between zones.
Despite many attempts, no Immigration official could be reached. “This being the festive season, the rush is heavy. Bengaluru is one of the best-managed airports in the country. When the new terminal opens and traffic gets diverted there, passengers will have a much better experience,” a top security official said.