Last-mile connectivity issues surface as Hindon airport expands operations

Officials as well as the passengers have flagged the issue of last-mile connectivity as well as high volume of traffic on the nearby main Wazirabad road

Ghaziabad: With the first direct flight between Hindon-Mumbai landing at the civil airport in Ghaziabad on Monday, some of the passengers experienced last-mile connectivity issues.

Airport officials said that they had flagged their issues to the concerned authorities in Ghaziabad during an airport advisory committee meeting held on February 21. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

Notably, the airport recently got four new direct flight routes to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Goa, and Kolkata.

“I arrived from Mumbai to Hindon airport… I faced a lot of issues in getting direct transport to Ghaziabad railway station as I was to reach Aligarh. I couldn’t access cabs due to network issues. So, I had to take an e-rickshaw which dropped me somewhere midway. Then, I booked an auto which dropped me to the railway station,” said Manish Verma, a passenger.

Rahul Chaudhary, resident of Moti Nagar in West Delhi, who arrived from Mumbai, however, said that he was able to book a direct cab to his home. “I decided to book a direct cab to my house instead of exploring transport options. The IGI and Hindon are almost similar distances from my house. I feel that the location at Hindon is proper, and transport facilities should expand,” he added.

The airport is close to Delhi Metro’s Red line network stations of Shaheed Nagar, Raj Bagh, and Rajendra Nagar Metro station besides the transport options can also give passengers a connectivity to Vaishali Metro station on the Blue line. The other options include connectivity to Namo Bharat stations at Sahibabad, and Ghaziabad.

Officials as well as the passengers have flagged the issue of last-mile connectivity as well as high volume of traffic on the nearby main Wazirabad road.

The civil terminal at Sikandarpur is connected through a connecting road of about a kilometre from the Wazirabad Road. The terminal is designed to handle civil flights which operate to cities like Adampur, Nanded, Kishangarh, Ludhiana, and Bathinda besides the recent addition of more flights to cities like Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, and Bengaluru.

Airport officials said that last-mile connectivity options as well as traffic on the main road, remain a major problem.

“At present, we have a footfall of about 1,200-1,500 daily passengers, and there are plans to expand the capacity of the airport as and when there is a rise in the number of flights. The major problem is the last-mile connectivity option from the civil airport, and also the traffic flow on the main Wazirabad road. We have flagged these concerns to the local authorities,” said Umesh Yadav, airport director.

Meanwhile, airport officials said that they had flagged their issues to the concerned authorities in Ghaziabad during an airport advisory committee meeting held on February 21.

The committee is headed by Ghaziabad MP Atul Garg, who has directed different departments to take up issues and resolve them.

Garg had told HT that the expansion of the airport was in the pipeline, with proposals for new popular routes to Ayodhya, Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Varanasi.

District magistrate (DM) Deepak Meena, said that different departments have been directed to take up issues like the beautification/landscaping of the approach road, and installation of signages as well as the view-cutters.

“The scale of operations has expanded at the airport recently, and we will get the systems in place. For last mile connectivity, the cab aggregators can be roped in, and we are also considering starting e-buses. On the other hand, there is also a profitability factor involved. So, I along with officials of our departments will discuss and soon pay a visit to the airport area,” the DM said.

As and when the airport authorities put up a formal proposal for the requirement of expansion of the airport, the proposal will be taken up at the earliest for procuring land, he added.

The airport uses the runway of the adjacent Indian Air Force base at Hindon, and the civil flight operations are allowed from sunrise to sunset.

The airport started operations in October, 2019.