The Civil Aviation Ministry has cracked down on airlines seeking to improve their turnaround time by allowing some passengers to exit through the rear using a step ladder, when aerobridge facility was available from the front.
Now on, passengers will only have to alight through the front door once an aerobridge is docked to the aircraft. Passengers alighting from the rear usually had to take an airport coach or walk longer, something passengers complained about and the Air Passengers Association of India had pointed out in its newsletter.
A circular issued mentions that airlines should be using aerobridges more than they have been doing at airports where these are available. “It has been observed by senior Airports Authority of India officials that airport aircraft parking stands having passenger boarding bridges are not being utilised fully. The non-usage of passenger boarding bridges is causing inconvenience to passengers,” it read.
The circular further said that it had come to the notice of AAI, that when aircraft is parked in an aircraft parking stand with passengers, airlines were disembarking passengers from aerobridges bridges as well as from the rear gates of aircraft through step ladders.
“The aforesaid practices being followed at airports are not acceptable in terms of passenger facilitation and from the security point of view,” the circular said.
The ministry has specified that all available aerobridges should be allocated to airlines before the remote parking bays are used. While Mumbai airport’s Terminal 2 has 52 aerobridges, Delhi’s T3 has 78 while Kolkata and Chennai have 18 and 13 respectively.
“Since disembarking through the rear door using a step ladder has been stopped, we will need more turnaround time,” an airline official feared. He explained that an Airbus 320 aircraft with 180 passengers would need between 7 to 9 minutes to deplane if both doors were in use.
“If passengers only exit through an aerobridge, an average time of 15-20 minutes is required for disembarkation. This will definitely affect our on-time performance,” the airline official said.
Published - May 04, 2018 10:24 pm IST
