I had recently gone to pick someone up at Mumbai Airport’s Terminal 1A – the one that serves Air India and Kingfisher. It was like a ghost terminal — a complete contrast to what used to be once upon a time. It was almost like going back in time 15-20 years when there was just a single airline serving the country. The display had only Air India flights with the occasional Kingfisher one.
Both airlines have gone through difficult times of their own making. With Kingfisher, one is not sure which flights will go, and with Air India, there seems a general reluctance to now fly it even though flights seem to be operating as per schedule. So, the terminal is there, but the passengers are missing. A huge infrastructure lies in semi-waste, even as the other terminal is jam-packed with flyers.
Perhaps, the airport authorities should consider shifting Jet or Indigo to terminal 1A so ease the load on 1D. In the morning, the security check queues are extraordinarily long in 1D, and with 1A largely empty, perhaps some changes are in order given the new realities.
