The Airports Authority of India Limited may not have yet released the latest data on congestion at the major airports in India. But there is enough empirical evidence to suggest that congestion at major airports - Mumbai and Delhi in particular - has eased considerably in the last few months.
Six months ago, it was usual for any aircraft heading for Delhi or Mumbai to circle over the city for 15 to 30 minutes before the air traffic controller would give it clearance for landing. Even taking off from either of these cities would have invariably meant a waiting time of around 15 minutes before the aircraft could be airborne.
The scenario has changed quite dramatically. There is now hardly any waiting time before the aircraft takes off either at Delhi or Mumbai. Not much time is wasted in circling over the airports before the aircraft can actually land.
In fact, flights that manage to take off on time from other cities are now able to land at Delhi and Mumbai often before their scheduled time of arrival, simply because the last one year's flying schedules had built into them the time they wasted in the parking bay before take-off and in circling over the airport before landing.
Now that the congestion has eased, the punctuality of flights has improved and the airlines are happy as they are saving on fuel that was earlier wasted while waiting for the take-off or while circling over the airports before landing.
The financial saving is huge as aviation experts point out that an aircraft spends around Rs 7,000 for every extra minute it remains airborne.
Quite apart from the easing of airport traffic congestion, there is also a perceptible improvement in the various other airport amenities. The checked-in baggage is on the conveyor belt almost at around the same time a passenger gets into the arrival lounge of the airport terminal.
Even if the baggage may not have arrived, there are clear and well-lit signages showing which conveyor belt would be carrying the baggage of a particular flight. In other words, picking up the baggage and getting out of the airport no longer seem to be the kind of an exercise for which you needed to mentally prepare yourself for hours in advance.
The city of Delhi is notorious for its erratic and unreliable taxi service. So, if you are not among the lucky ones to be received at the airport by your chauffeur, you are required to go in for the pre-paid taxi service, run by the Delhi Traffic Police.
Till recently, there used to be two counters where these pre-paid taxi service coupons could be obtained. Obviously, there would be long queues, especially in the peak evening hours.
Now, three more counters have been added. And suddenly the queues have got shorter and even non-existent when all the five counters are operational. What's more, the people manning the counters are polite and courteous.
What has happened that the overall airport experience in Delhi and Mumbai is so much better than what it used to be earlier? The airports in Mumbai and Delhi have just been handed over to the new companies that are controlled by private sector promoters.
New runways are yet to be fully operational or added to either of the two airports. The refurbishing of the terminal buildings in these two airports is yet to be completed.
So the full benefits of ownership change are yet to be seen in the way the two airports are functioning. What we see now are only the minor changes in the way the use of the existing facilities can be opitimised to provide better passenger amenities. If more entry and exit paths to the existing runways can be created, the utilisation of the existing runway increases.
If the system of bringing the baggage from the aircraft to the conveyor belts for their distribution can be streamlined, passengers feel better. If instead of two counters for providing the pre-paid taxi service, there are five counters, passengers do not have to wait in long queues to get a taxi to reach home.
These are small changes, but they go a long way in improving the overall quality of service offered to passengers. The private sector promoters in charge of the airports in Mumbai and Delhi have clearly understood this principle.
That is why they have made these small changes in the first year of its operation before they can make the big changes (constructing new runways or new terminal buildings) in the second or third year and bring about a quantum jump in the passenger satisfaction level.
The point that needs to be noted here is that Mumbai and Delhi are not the only airports in India. There are several others including those in the metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
While it is true that Hyderabad and Bangalore may soon have new private sector airports by March 2008, what about the airports in other cities like Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad? Mind you, none of these airports is being handed over to private promoters. So, what happens to the task of modernising the facilities in these airports and improving passenger benefits there?
The lesson from the Mumbai and Delhi airports privatisation is that simple improvements in managing the airports and runways can go a long way in enhancing passenger satisfaction. The Airports Authority of India Limited will do well to keep this lesson in mind while embarking on the task of moderninising the airports in Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad.