I'm writing this blog from the new Mumbai Intl terminal. I was told horror stories about the immigration queues and the long hours it takes to go past immigration. I think these issues will linger for arrivals. For departures however, my experience was great. There were hardly any queues at immigration or airline check in counter.
And I'm talking Jet airways in the middle of the day @4:00 pm. Its possible, that the intl traffic is at is slowest.
The access to the airport is much better than before. I cam via Andheri Kurla rd as most ppl from central suburbs would. There is little you can do about the AK road and you can only hope that the traffic improves a bit once the metro starts and ppl leave their cars home.
But the access to the elevated road from AK road was seamless. I was very pleasantly surprised.
-----*****----------
Okay. So I left the terminal around the time. The flight take off was delayed as the skies were jammed. So, there was enough air traffic. As at Mumbai, the intl and domestic routes share the same landing strip, probably days are domestic heavy while nights are for the intl.
The overall look of the terminal is as good as or better than many other international terminals I've seen (not too many but surely a few ).
The decor is neat and lighting is diffused. At times I felt it was on the dimmer side but it was always adequate.
Given its a new terminal, they have taken notice of the travelers using their mobile devices at the airport while charging them simultaneously. To that end there were plenty of power outlets with multi pin options.
They even had charging cables and stations for mobiles. Andriod, iPhone, Nokia. All kinds of charging cables with a platform. All you have to do is plug your device in and sit around for a few minutes while it charges.
There are Laptop stations, just like a cyber cafe bays. Each station has about 10 bays. 6-7 of them are equipped with HP touch PCs. They look beautiful. And then there are empty bays where you could plug in your laptop and work.
The free internet connection by GVK worked seamlessly. I sat for around an hour browsing and working on my laptop. It was great.
I do think that the terminal is small and perhaps will be inadequate as the air traffic grows. Hopefully, by then Mumbai will have its Panvel intl. airport operational.
And I'm talking Jet airways in the middle of the day @4:00 pm. Its possible, that the intl traffic is at is slowest.
The access to the airport is much better than before. I cam via Andheri Kurla rd as most ppl from central suburbs would. There is little you can do about the AK road and you can only hope that the traffic improves a bit once the metro starts and ppl leave their cars home.
But the access to the elevated road from AK road was seamless. I was very pleasantly surprised.
-----*****----------
Okay. So I left the terminal around the time. The flight take off was delayed as the skies were jammed. So, there was enough air traffic. As at Mumbai, the intl and domestic routes share the same landing strip, probably days are domestic heavy while nights are for the intl.
The overall look of the terminal is as good as or better than many other international terminals I've seen (not too many but surely a few ).
The decor is neat and lighting is diffused. At times I felt it was on the dimmer side but it was always adequate.
Given its a new terminal, they have taken notice of the travelers using their mobile devices at the airport while charging them simultaneously. To that end there were plenty of power outlets with multi pin options.
They even had charging cables and stations for mobiles. Andriod, iPhone, Nokia. All kinds of charging cables with a platform. All you have to do is plug your device in and sit around for a few minutes while it charges.
There are Laptop stations, just like a cyber cafe bays. Each station has about 10 bays. 6-7 of them are equipped with HP touch PCs. They look beautiful. And then there are empty bays where you could plug in your laptop and work.
The free internet connection by GVK worked seamlessly. I sat for around an hour browsing and working on my laptop. It was great.
I do think that the terminal is small and perhaps will be inadequate as the air traffic grows. Hopefully, by then Mumbai will have its Panvel intl. airport operational.
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