Sunday, January 6, 2013

Hyderabad Airport - Horrendous prices, delayed flights, arrogant duty officers

This is my second experience @ Hyderabad airport. The airport is great and (unlike other airports/facilities in India) maintained pretty well. Ofcourse they are charging for that so I can't praise them for doing their duty.

What pissed me off is the "prices" inside the airport and around the airport. Be it the taxi ride to/from airport where taxi companies charge premium prices compared to other airports. i.e. Fasttrack charges 12/km but in Hyd 15/km; Meru charges 18 which is the same as in Delhi.

Then the parking charges. If you are driving then the rates are INR 50/first 30 min. (40 for addl hour); Changi charges similar prices but per min (0.04c/min or SGD 2.4/Hour). If compared with purchasing power parity the prices in HYD are much higher than in Singapore. If I look at BKK or KLIA then HYD prices can't be compared :)

Anyway, once you are in the place is clean and offers pretty good feel. But if you are hungry or want to grab a drink then you'll realize how expensive Indian airports are.  Inside the airport, in Domestic area there are couple of food places where the prices are so high, it can't justify the food they offer (though tasty).

Idly Factory, a nice stall with great food charges INR 75++ for their Idly plate.
Taste of India, another stall next to Idly Factory but charges INR 55 for a cuppa or INR 85 for a Dosa; or INR 280 for a Biryani. Well, it's definitely not local food but more of a fusion.

Compared to that, International terminus/area offers good/better food. I couldn't recall the name but there is a small stall near the departures gates. This I'd say it more 'local'.

Overall I'd see a great potential for a "food court" with multiple options here. Given the expansion plans, this would be a great idea from GMR too.

No comments:

Post a Comment