Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Even as the city has captured the prestigious title of cleanest city in the country for the 7th time in a row, there is bad news from Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport. In the last quarter report of the calendar year gone by about Airport Service Quality (ASQ) released by Airport Council International (ACI), on Tuesday, the city airport has been ranked at 7th place in the country. Two quarters ago it was at 1st place. Bad services rendered by the airport are the reason for the drastic drop in the rank.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) released the report on its website on Tuesday. AAI conducts a survey of passenger amenities through ACI at such airports of the country where the annual passenger movement is more than 20 lakh. This includes 15 airports of the country including the city airport. In this, the ACI team asks air passengers to evaluate facilities available at the airport in 31 categories and rank them from 1 to 5. One is for worst case and 5 for best case. The city airport has been given 4.89 points by passengers in the last quarter of the year i.e. between October and December 2023. In the previous quarter, it was on second place with 4.92 points. That means, Indore slipped five places in three months.
Goa bags first place
In the last quarter of the year, many small airports of the country have overtaken the city airport. Goa bagged the first place in the country with 4.96 points, followed by Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Varanasi and Indore respectively. Srinagar Airport came last.
Drop in service quality leads to lower rank
Passengers gave lower marks to the airport in many facilities compared to the previous quarter. These include means of reaching the airport.
-Signboards to reach the terminal.
-Overcharging for means of reaching the airport.
-Overcharging at shops at the airport.
-Politeness and helpful attitude of the staff at shopping and dining.
-Availability of flight information at the gate.
-The cleanest city airports scored lower on the maintenance and cleanliness of toilets.
-Terminal walking distance, availability of WiFi and charging stations, entertainment and leisure options.
DABH airport in last 4 quarters
Quarter Points Rank in Country
January to March 4.90 3
April to June 4.94 1
July to September 4.92 2
October to December 4.89 7
(As per AAI data)
