DIAL 1 for success

When the Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao-led GMR Group won the bid to redevelop the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in 2006, one of the earliest challenges faced by his team was runway delays. “We thought we had found the simplest solution: construct another runway,” recalls Prabhakara Rao, Chief Executive Officer of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). The GMR-led consortium, which included Fraport AG, Malaysia Airport and Airports Authority of India, had won the bid to modernise and operate the IGI airport.

If anything, it turned out to be one of the toughest challenges for the GMR team. The site chosen for the second runway had a sewer line below and when work started all that sewage came into the airport. “For three months I knocked on every door to find out where the sewage was coming from. This was one of the biggest challenges,” says Rao, who can now afford to chuckle as he recalls that the new runway was eventually built eight months ahead of schedule.

While the modernised IGI airport and its new terminal T3, which opened in July 2010, have since been hailed as one of the success stories of Indian aviation, the recognition has now come from where it really matters. On February 15, the Airport Council International (ACI), the only global association of world airports, ranked the IGI Airport as the best in the world among those handling 24-40 million passengers annually.

Moving up a 100 notches to the top spot in seven years is no mean achievement. The IGI Airport was ranked 101 among 125 international airports in 2006. And what will gladden the hearts of the top executives at DIAL and GMR is that IGI Airport was ranked over marquee names such as Seoul’s Incehon and Singapore’s Changi. The fifth place went to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai.

ACI’s Airport Service Quality Survey has eight categories, such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage, and retail. Overall, it covers 34 key service areas that include wi-fi connectivity, cleanliness of toilets, baggage delivery, and immigration courtesy. “By successfully implementing T3, we were able to gain the faith of people as the infrastructure met world-class standards. The industry said, yes, these people have delivered the best within the shortest possible time in the world,” says Rao.

Airbus India’s Ajay Mehra agrees. “It is next to top international airports such as the Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow and the new airport in Munich,” says Mehra, who uses the IGI Airport at least four times a month.

“It has been a journey from being one of the lowest rated airports to emerging at the top,” says Peeyush Naidu, Senior Director, Deloitte in India. “From commencement of the PPP contract, DIAL focused on its contractual service quality requirements and development of new infrastructure handling challenges around cultural change and completion of construction of the new terminal (T3) in a short duration,” he adds.

Apart from laying the additional runway, Rao and his men had to take some crucial calls. In 2006, about 300 families were living on the land belonging to the airport. DIAL had two options: evict the families, which would have taken time, or, change the modernisation plan. The top team at DIAL opted for the latter.

It was a tough call, which turned out to be the right one as the 2010 Commonwealth Games were round the corner and T3, which was touted as India’s window to the world, had to be up and running in time. While work was taken up in phases, the management also had to contend with the changed economic scenario after the 2008 financial meltdown that made financing tough.

Special efforts were made to take the administration along through each step. Once, 40 secretaries from several government departments were brought to the airport for a meeting of the National Facilitation Committee, which was set up to monitor the modernisation progress. The meeting proved to be a success. “Over 30,000 people are working at the airport…. All have been synchronised. It is like a nice orchestra,” says Rao.

While building the infrastructure was one thing, running the airport was another ball game. Realising that passengers look for, connectivity and on-time performance, DIAL decided to work on each of these areas. “We tried to improve continuously. From a flyer’s point of view we did not want him to come only to catch a flight. We wanted to create an entire experience,” says Rao.

Over the years, the airport has grown. From 45 in 2006, the airport connects to 65 international cities currently. Similarly, the domestic connections have increased from 52 to 58 over the same period. “At 80 per cent, the Delhi airport today has one of the highest on-time performances in India, and in the world,” says Rao.

DIAL was also keen to have more international passengers passing through IGI. Transit passengers are a key to the success of Singapore, Dubai and other airports which are in direct competition with Delhi for passenger numbers. The results have paid off and now transit passengers constitute around 20 per cent of total passengers handled annually by IGI, up from 1-2 per cent in 2006.

The challenges though will keep coming. “Comparing with other global airports, there could still be scope for the airport to enhance its retail and customer engagement offerings – something that could go in sync with enhancing its potential as a hub,” says Deloitte’s Naidu. It is also looking ahead to 2030, by when the capacity at IGI Airport is estimated to reach 100 million passengers annually. “Even in 2030 we want to be in the top five by having consistency in the processes, that is very, very critical,” says Rao. 

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