About Airport

Calcutta airport employees will be taught to serve fliers with a smile, an alien concept till now judging by the number of complaints against the staff.

The Indian Aviation Academy (IAA), an autonomous body under the civil aviation ministry, will set up a hub at Calcutta airport’s upcoming integrated terminal to train the staff in behavioural, managerial and technical skills.

“The staff of the airport and agencies involved in the day-to-day operations will be trained in soft skills. They will be taught the nitty-gritty of inter-personal communication, ways to handle new equipment and a working knowledge of the functioning of all departments,” Dewakar Goel, general manager (human resource-training), Airports Authority of India, told Metro.

Fliers using the Calcutta airport vouch for the urgency of training the staff in soft skills but many doubt whether such sessions would have the desired effect.

A number of air travellers have alleged that they receive no help from the staff when they complain about missing trolleys, unclean toilets, long queues and lack of basic services like drinking water.

Ophthalmologist Vivek Verma, a frequent flier, said he was often harassed while scouting for a trolley. “Once I pointed out to an employee in the domestic terminal that trolleys were piled up in front of the check-in counters while passengers were searching for one near the entry gate. He curtly told me that arranging for trolleys was not his job.”

Visitors to the city are no less cut up. “Travelling to Calcutta is a nightmare as the airport is ruled by rude airport staff and abusive touts and taxi goons,” said Delhi-based banker Suman Dey, who was “threatened” by “the nexus” when he had tried to lodge a complaint about the boorish behaviour of those meant to help out a visitor to the city.

City-based businessman Rajesh Gidwani said a Group D employee had shouted at him and threatened him with arrest after he had mistakenly entered the airport manager’s office on his way to the international terminal to catch a flight for Bangkok.

According to airport sources, the managers’ offices in the domestic and international terminals are often manned by employees who are rude to the passengers in the absence of their bosses. “They badly need to be trained in behavioural skills,” said a senior official who refused to be named.

“It’s extremely important for the airport staff to be courteous towards passengers and also get smarter,” said general manager Goel, who also holds the same post in the Delhi-headquartered aviation academy. Each employee, he said, will attend a session at least once a year. The lessons will be imparted by professionals trained by International Air Transport Association.

AAI sources said a proposal to set up such an institute at Calcutta airport had been pending for some time.

“Once the new terminal building is ready, the academy can be set up there,” said a senior AAI official.