Srinagar International Airport Or Bus Stand?
Welcome to Srinagar International Airport. This message greets visitors at this airport throughout the day. The public address system is shoddy. All the rest that is blared out regarding the arrival or departure of flights is loud noise, since no words can be understood.
The authorities at the airport seem to be insensitive to the terrible, grating public address system. Airport infrastructure for flight arrival and departure has been improved. But the services within the airport leave much to be desired.
The facilities and services at Srinagar International Airport are worse than the small domestic airport at Jammu. Flights are scheduled 6 am onwards. The flights arrive on time but passengers are delayed because the ground staff of the airlines is not available. People taking early morning flights from Srinagar cannot have a cup of tea because the stalls start opening between 9 to 10 am.
The sweepers cleaning the premises are seen mopping the floor when the passengers are de-boarding from the flights. All through this, the automated message keeps playing at high volume: Srinagar kay antirashtriye hawayi adde main aap ka swagat hain. Jannat kay is tukday ka anand le.
Meanwhile, the dimaag is going tukde with all this noise, no tea and poor services.
Here are some more snapshots from Srinagar International Airport. The passengers are at the gates to board a flight which has arrived and is ready for departure. They are waiting helplessly for the ground staff, which is not available on duty. The washrooms are overcrowded and smell bad.
Even the crew supposed to replace the incoming crew is nowhere to be seen. SpiceJet particularly is the worst service provider. The delay is always there because either the ground staff is missing or the crew is late.
There are even reports that the airlines staff and officers are creating hurdles for late night and early morning flights because they don’t want long work hours. According to a gentleman associated with an airline, the Srinagar airport can operate 12 flights in one hour. The operation has been limited four flights per hour because of poor functioning of the airport staff.
