*CAA DG says purpose of polling website is to gauge facilities provided to those who intend to spend nights at airports
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday said it does not recognise a survey conducted by a website, which recently declared Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport as the worst in the world.
“We strongly contest the findings of that website’s survey,” DG CAA Air Marshal (r) Muhammad Yousaf said in his opening remarks at a press briefing on Friday. “The problem is that no one here bothers to check source of such information.”
Last week news stories based on a poll by the website Sleeping in Airports was published which placed the Islamabad airport at the head of a list of worst airports in the world.
Yousaf said the purpose of the polling website is to gauge the facilities provided to those who intend to spend the night at the airports. “Even the Saudi authorities have rejected the result.”
As part of its drive to make air travel comfortable for passengers, the CAA has put in place a system to receive complaints for passengers. “And as per our data, the complaints have actually gone down by 40% over past few months.”
However, he admitted that Islamabad airport falls short of meeting standards of an international airport. “It is housed in an old building and over the years we have just kept on adding sections to it.”
Pakistan’s third-largest airport in terms of passenger traffic, Islamabad airport has a capacity to handle about 3 million passengers a year against a flow of 4 million travellers, the DG said.
The CAA DG added that he was taking personal interest in Islamabad airport’s infrastructure. “Washrooms were really dirty. So we are building new ones. Similarly more airline counters are being added to facilitate passengers.”
CAA has been reluctant to invest in the Islamabad airport since a new multi-billion rupee airport is being built nearby.
“The new airport is expected to become functional by the end of 2016. It would be the only one in Pakistan with the ability to handle jets the size of Airbus 380. Now that would be something, which can be compared with other international airports.”
The online Guide to Sleeping in Airports carries out annual surveys on its website asking visitors to rate the airports based on a set of questions such as overall experience at the airport, the cleanliness, comfort, and customer service.
