Mumbai airport 3rd best in world

Mumbai international airport has been ranked third in a survey of 275 airports around the world in 2012, ahead of Japan’s Narita International Airport and China’s Hongqiao airport.

The survey was conducted by the Airports Council International (ACI), based on service quality at airports catering to 25 million to 40 million travellers annually.  Seoul’s Incheon airport was ranked at the top and the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi was second in the list.

The survey, which is undertaken annually, evaluates passenger experience on a range of parameters from the moment of arrival to the departure gate.

ACI is the global trade representative of airports with over 580 members. The organisation, based in Canada, recognises excellence through awards presented to the winning airports.

Among the parameters is the check-in waiting time, time taken for security check and immigration process. The  service levels are measured through a series of observations, precisely scheduled to ensure an accurate reflection of key issues throughout the airport during peak hours.

Real-time data collected on the day of travel and analysed by ACI helps guide airport organisation to better align their services with expectations of customers, who are the end users.  According to an estimate, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) catered to  30.75 million passengers and handled 6.57 lakh tonnes of cargo in FY2012. Passenger traffic is expected to increase to over 40 million once the Terminal 2 that is coming up on an area of 4.39 lakh sq m is functional.

Singapore’s Changi Airport was top in the category of airports catering to over 40 million travellers, while Beijing and Hong Kong airports were second and third.

In 15 million-25 million passengers category, Seoul’s Gimpo airport, Chongqing in south-west China and Taipei (Taiwan) airport were the top three. Nagoya airport in Japan, Hyderabad airport and Tianjin airport in China were in the top three positions in the category of 5 million to 15 million flyers.  

In category for smallest volume of traffic, that is 2 million-5 million, Hohhot airport in China was ahead of Guayaquil airport in Ecuador and Ottawa airport in Canada.

@DNA