Heathrow in a mess

India is not the only country whose airports are in a mess. London’s Heathrow airport has also been attracting a lot of negative publicity in recent months. As the Economist recently reported, the qeues are getting longer, tempers shorter, a third of the departing flights are getting delayed and thousands of bags are being misplaced each day. The threat of terrorism has put the airport on a state of high alert. As a result, the security checks have become a real ordeal. I passed through Heathrow recently and can endorse this wholeheartedly.

Heathrow’s mess is a result of inadequate investments even as traffic volume has gone up significantly. The aircraft handles 67 million passengers a year even through its facilities are designed for only 45 million. Heathrow has several shops to keep customers engaged, but they are overpriced. No wonder, the airport consistently finds a place in the bottom in customer surveys.

The main lesson for us in India is that infrastructure has to be created ahead of demand. Look at the Kuala Lampur airport. What a joy it is to be at that airport. Large open spaces, comfortable seating arrangements and plentiful avenues for shopping. And of course friendly staff.

While on the subject of airports, I may add that Frankfurt does not seem to be too much better off. When I passed through the airport a couple of months back, it was crowded and the aerobridge facility was not available. The airport may be less crowded than Heathrow but the layout is bad and the staff are not all that cordial.

Heathrow has many lessons to offer to us. If Mumbai has any dreams of becoming a leading financial centre in the region, it had better invest sufficiently in its airport.