Air Travel Experience

I am travelling tonight to Chennai and thought i should reproduce my article on "My Air Travel Experience" which i wrote in February 2010. I will write a sequel to this very soon.

I first went to see the Madras Airport in Meenambakkam as a teenager when my father was travelling on official trip to Bombay. All of us went with my father to see him off at the Meenambakkam Airport. There was only one Aircraft in the Airport and we could go to the Viewers Gallery and wait till the plane took off. This episode was a half a day affair for the entire family. This first trip to an Airport is still green in my memory though it is more than 30 years old. When my father came back from Bombay after few days he explained to us about how the Aircraft takes off and how it lands. What I saw and heard was very fascinating and I started dreaming about having such experience when I grow up and become an Officer like my father in a big Organization.

I did not wait too long to make my first trip by Air as it happened in 1984 when I was pursuing my Chartered Accountancy Course.

It was the same old Meenambakkam Airport and I went to the Airport with my brother-in-law (my sister’s husband) as he was travelling to Cochin from Madras and I had to take a flight to Mangalore via Bangalore. He cautioned me that the Air Hostess will give a drink before take off and it will be a horrible drink. He left before me as his flight departed 45 minutes earlier than my flight. I was able to look through the glass and see two aircrafts, which was an improvement from the days when my father was travelling to Bombay with only one aircraft in the entire Airport, as there were two of them.

I waited in the small waiting area in the Airport and there were about 20 -30 passengers with me who were taking the flight to Bangalore. I got into the Indian Airlines flight and was quite fascinated by the interiors. All along I was curiously watching whatever I could see through the window. The Air-hostess suddenly appeared on my side with a tray full of some juice and I instantly accepted one glass and drank it. After drinking it I realized that I have been warned by my brother-in-law that the drink will taste horrible (sweet and sour). I did not like the taste of the drink and told myself that I should avoid it in the next flight and also during my return journey.

I enjoyed the flight from Madras to Bangalore thoroughly and the best thing I liked about my first air travel is “the visit to the loo”. I was astonished to see such a cute small toilet and was more fascinated by the way the flush out works.

I kept talking about this for several months to my friends. The flight to Bangalore was very comfortable and smooth though I felt it was too short. The next flight from Bangalore to Mangalore was very turbulent and once the Aircraft dropped all of a sudden (may be by a 1000 feet). It was a frightening experience but luckily lasted only a few minutes.

Bangalore Airport and Mangalore Airports were also very small and there was only one aircraft in both these airports (the aircraft in which I travelled).

I travelled on International Flight for the first time in October 1990 and that was Madras to Singapore by Singapore Airlines on a Jumbo Boeing 747. I landed in Changi Airport at 6 a.m. and was thrilled to see so many aircrafts in the Airport. I would have seen at least 20 Aircrafts in one row when I landed in Changi Airport. One month later I read in the newspaper – Straits Times – that Changi Terminal 2 has been inaugurated.

I travelled several times over the next couple of years to Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Dubai, India, Malaysia and was thrilled by my experience of seeing both Changi 1 and Changi 2 in Singapore . The Airports in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were really huge airports with all facilities. Whilst I continued to wonder how Madras Airport remained the same with small airport and very few aircrafts in sight.

I travelled to Dubai in 1992 and was quite surprised to see a small airport – fully crowded on all sides with kiosks, shops and Cars/Motorbikes on raffle draws. There were airport staff yelling “passengers to Singapore please proceed for boarding”. This was in total contrast to what I saw in Singapore which was much more organized and much larger in scale when I compared with Dubai.

In 1992 I had the wonderful opportunity of travelling to Russia. I travelled on Ilyushin Series Aircrafts throughout the trip except one flight from Moscow to Vladivostok which was on Airbus. That was a wonderful travel experience because I travelled on a 12 hour non-stop flight from Moscow to Vladivostok. This flight covers a distance of nearly 1/3rd of the length of the earth and it crosses six time zones.

When I travelled again to Dubai in 1993, 1994 and 2001 I was astonished to see the improvements in the Airport and the facilities. I was particularly thrilled by the Duty Free Shopping Experience in Dubai Airport.

I left Singapore in 1993 and returned after six years in 1999 and found that the Airport has become even bigger with much better facilities.

My trip to USA in 1999 which was decided all of a sudden was truly a magnificent experience. Myself and my friend Sam travelled to several places in the US and because we chose Continental Airlines for our internal travel (VUSA ticket – Visit USA) we ended up visiting more cities. Continental has three hubs in USA – Newark, Houston and Cleveland. If they do not have a direct flight you end up going through the hub and that is why we visiting Cleveland and Houston Airports though it was not part of our itinerary. Every second day we were in a plane and it was a truly amazing experience. We visited Los Angles, New York, Atlanta, Orlando, San Francisco during this visit. When we landed in Atlanta the aircraft was early by 10 minutes and hence the Pilot announced that we will be in the waiting area before we get a proper arrival bay in the Airport. While the Aircraft was parked in one corner of the Airport I was totally stunned to see so many runways in the Airport. I told Sam that the Airport must have been renovated for the Atlanta Olympics. When we reached the information desk I checked with the staff and was totally shocked when she said “this airport is 30years old and is now due for renovation”. I was immediately thinking about Madras Airport which has remained almost the same for the last 15years 1984 – 1999 (with small changes and expansions).

I visited Singapore and Kuala Lumpur again in 2006 when I went on a short holiday with my family. I was astonished to see the improvements that were made in both the Airports. The waiting lounge, duty free shopping and other facilities in the Airport were far superior and made us feel very comfortable. It was much better than what I have experienced in some of the five star hotels.

In May 2008 I went to Europe with my family and had the opportunity of visiting Paris, London, Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Switzerland. As we were travelling from Chennai on Lufthansa we had to go through the Frankfurt Airport both ways. It is a huge Airport with several terminals and several hundred Aircrafts.

In January 2010 I travelled from Madras to Dubai and realized there were five gates in the Anna International Airport of Chennai. There were only two Aircrafts in the Airport and probably a few more in the Domestic Airport. The number of Airlines operating to/from Chennai has increased manifolds and the number of aircrafts has also increased manifolds over the last 25years . But still Chennai Airport looks very small and tiny in comparison many other Airports around the world. Dubai Airport has three terminals with several hundred gates for the departure and arrival of flights. Now in 2010 Dubai Airport has expanded a lot and has all the facilities and probably it is better thanSingapore Airport in terms of the facilities and Duty Free Experience.

Chennai Airport has only one terminal with 5 gates and of course one Duty Free Shop which sells about 20 varieties of Alcoholic beverages and 5 varieties of Cigarettes.

In the last 25 years I have travelled to several parts of the world – except Australia and Mainland China. I have really had some very memorable and wonderful experience and each time I landed in Chennai I could not help but compare Chennai Airport with other cities around the world. I thoroughly enjoy Air Travel and love to see different cities around the world and hope that someday Chennai Airport will also be a huge Airport with two or three terminals and lot of activity with full facilities.