Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport has a new director. Vikram Singh, with 30 years of experience in the Airport Authority of India, took charge on Saturday from outgoing director, Dr Pravat Ranjan Beuria.
My Kolkata has consistently reported on what the city wants from its airport. Here’s a quick recap of five such points:
1. Better porter service: Re-introduced from February 2025, the outsourced porter service still has a long way to go to achieve customer satisfaction. Complaints of difficulty in locating the personnel, hassles over heavy luggage and forced tips remain.
2. Taxi service: Finding a cab outside the airport is still a task despite the existing prepaid service. There is a long wait for the cabs. In many cases fliers have to book a cab at a far higher rate than the usual charges after a long wait.
3. Improved lounge and better food options: The lounge at the NSCBI airport is not a patch on those at the other top-tier cities and needs an immediate overhaul. The airport at the street food capital of the world should not be serving instant noodles at Rs 250.
4. Cleanliness: The washrooms in the NSCBI airport are a perennial mess. The passengers, whether after landing or on the way to board a flight, don’t want to be at an unclean washroom.
5. Wait time for heavy baggage: The NSCBI airport is the only airport where passengers have to wait for the heavy or outsized baggage – such as musical instruments, golf bags, etc – to be collected by the ground-handling staff from the aircraft and get it to the baggage waiting area.
