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sabya99

Sumantra this is my first TR earlier published in Skyscrapercity forum ( 2009 ) . As you could see I have learned a lot since then. I promise next time when I visit India I would post a very detailed TR in the forum.

SABYA99‘s trip to Kolkata by AI 102 ( November 22nd 2009 ).

This is Sabya 99 writing from Kolkata as I have arrived here from New Jersey by AI102 recently after a gap of three years. This daily flight to Kolkata seems to have shortest travel time from JFK via New Delhi. The in flight service and food of Air India was good, I would rate far superior than Lufthansa and somewhat better than BA. Our aircraft was 100% full at JFK with bulk of passengers going to Amritsar. About 60-80 passengers were for CCU and they were chattering in Bengali all the way. A few came from Midwestern states but most seems to be from tristate area. Travel time to Del was 14h, it was really long and grueling. However services of AI crew members were commendable!
Upon arrival in Del around 4PM we were greeted by dark gloomy sky. It was a huge airport but not very lighted. Once we arrived IGI terminal AI ground staff carefully escorted Kolkata and Amritsar passengers to ground floor level, we had to wait for 2.30h .This terminal was my favorite terminal in all of India, it had clean rest rooms, duty free shops and all signs were clearly posted. I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff. On our way to the terminal about half a mile away we saw the new hub terminal ( T3 ) under construction. This terminal seems to be much larger than our JFK terminal 4 (3 times or more ). India really needs a large hub terminal like this and I felt very proud of it. Soon we were taken to our Airbus A320 by bus and aircraft was commanded by Capt. Indrani Singh.
On our way to CCU a very hot spicy dinner was served. Aircraft was full in economy class and only 50% full in executive class. I don’t know whether all passenger were from AI102 but I saw a few westerners. Soon we encountered dark sky above and dark countryside of north India below. Only when we approached very close to CCU we could find lights from small cities near Kolkata. In no time we were on the approach to 01R. For the first time I landed from south side of main runway under Cat 1 condition. Within very short time we were taxing towards international terminal.
Soon we disembarked by a step ladder although aerobridge was available. We reached the terminal by a noisy bus. Upon entering the terminal we faced medical staff screening for H1N1 virus. Then we had to X-ray our hand luggage, and then head for immigration counters. I noticed about half the passengers were foreign passport/OCI holders. All together there were only 150 passengers ,luggage came in very soon and by 10-15 minutes arrival area was cleared off all the passengers. I noticed no inspector in customs green channel. This time there were no cats in luggage area. As I approached the terminal further I noticed some phone banks in one corner on very dirty unpainted wall. Right across from this area I noticed an unused office area with lots of trash. Once I entered the departure area I encountered a somewhat large lobby well painted and clean with sitting facility. There were lots of passengers/visitors in this area waiting for departure.
As I walked out of the international terminal two stray dogs welcomed me. The traffic in this area was chaotic, people getting in and out of their cars randomly. On the left side I noticed construction activity over the international terminal. A few hundred yeards away gorgeous domestic terminal waiting for passengers at midnight. After coming out from IGI now I had a rude shock and realized how far behind CCU is from rest of India. Truly Kolkata deserves to be capital city of WASTE BENGAL.
As I drove further I noticed tower cranes in the integrated terminal area. In the darkness I could not see any signs of pillars but nearby I noticed a skeleton of a five story building coming up right across the VIP road. I got frustrated , looked higher up for a deep breath. I noticed brightly glittering VANUS high above in the dark sky. Perhaps she is telling me-- Kolkata will get a new terminal and nobody will dare to derail this project now. Sabya after 10000km trip you are tired, go home, take rest and visit your mom.
I slowly drove away!

Sabya’s return trip to New Jersey from Kolkata( December 7th , 2009 ) :

On my way back as I approached NSCBI airport from Jessore road , I encountered total traffic chaos. There were no traffic police in and around airport area. The seven story international hotel is being demolished by hand and bit by bit and looks like a bombed out building. As I approached international terminal I noticed a large part of taxi stand have been converted into a concrete mixing plant and large amount of sand, stone chips and cements are piled up there along with concrete mixing trucks. I was told this area will be used for staging area for integrated terminal construction. As I approached the international terminal I noticed some construction activity in between international and domestic terminal.
On that day security was tight because of India’s president was in town and no visitor was allowed inside. The departure lounge was small about 200ft square. This area had about 200 chairs but smell from restrooms made me uncomfortable. There were two small stores on one corner of this lounge, ancient poorly lighted selling handicraft items. Perhaps Netaji Subash himself used to shop here! About two hours before departure, check in call was announced. I entered the check in lounge, it was brightly painted clean with some wall painting. In all there were 7 or 8 check in counters. Emirates, Air India, Biman and Lufthansa were open at that time. Air India ground staff was efficient. As I proceed to check in I found a nice lobby area for immigration control. This area is well decorated by terracotta arts items. I thought someone might have tried to make this terminal tourist friendly ! There was a security hold in the mezzanine level and the only escalator in the whole building was located over here. This security hold area was a glass cage—hot, humid, and suffocating. There were leather sofas but this could take only 300-400 passengers. Security hold had only two gates one connected to the lone aerobridge other one with a sloped walkway. Here in this security hold I met two couples, recently married flying to New Jersey to start their new life. As usual I wished them good luck! During my stay bulk of the passengers were for Biman then Emirates and AI shared the space. Emirates had a wide body Airbus 330 and it was hooked up with aerobridge. We the AI passengers had to take sloped walkway to a bus then to our plane parked at bay 42. I could not find any duty free shop nearby but perhaps there was a transit passenger lounge hastily constructed on the second floor level .
As the aircraft was pushed backed I could see violet taxiway lights all around. We proceeded north towards 19L ( north side of main runway ). I could see bright signs all along the runway , aircraft entered alpha taxiway. We had to wait for a while for Emirates take off. At this time airport was quite busy there were 5 landing in 10 minutes. Once Emirates Airbus 330 took off we turned left towards 19L turning pad. I could see runway edge lights, a little later I saw 4 PAPI ( precision approach path indicator) projecting their strong light beams toward the dark winter sky. As the aircraft was turning on the 19L turning pad I got a clear view of the entire main runway—as far as eye could see bright center line light system flanked by runway edge lights. Looks almost like star war movie scenery!

In no time aircraft took off—the integrated terminal area was dark and nothing could be seen. By then we were over the slums of Dum Dum and soon BT road came into sight –straight like an arrow with lots of cars travelling with their headlights on. Soon I could see dark waters of Ganges river with brightly illuminated Dakshinaswer Kali temple nearby. Lots of old memory! Lord let there be peace and prosperity in Kolkata! Aircraft entered into dark winter sky, dinner was served. We landed on Runway 28 in Del airport. We were bused to IGI around 11.30PM. At that time IGI was as crowded as Howrah station! I could see about 15 aircrafts parked on the tarmac nearby. Even rest rooms were jammed up! But it was a very clean and efficient terminal. After two rounds of security check up we were allowed to board AI 101.
AI 101 flies an almost transpolar path from Del to JFK. It flies over Pakistan/Afganistan/Uzbeckistan/Russia/Finland/Sweden/Norway/Iceland/Greenland/New Foundland ,Canada/US East coast /JFK. It crossed Atlantic Ocean between northern tip of Norway and Iceland. This is the same area where epic naval battle took place during WW II between German battleship Bismarck and British Hood! But our flight was peaceful and Air India served us delicious Indian food at least four times. I could see cabin crew taking special care of elderly and children. As we were over Connecticut aircraft started to descend and around 1000m pilot opened up nose wheel mounted camera. I could see the entire runway with its center line lights from far away. This runway had two sets of VASI ( visual approach and slope indicator ) on both sides. Other than that rest was very similar to the main runway at Kolkata. Once the aircraft landed I noticed the adjoining taxiways have both edge lights and green center line lights. This I have not seen in Kolkata ! I thanked those British planners for building the main runway of CCU as effective as Western runways. This piece of transportation infrastructure will serve the city of Kolkata for many years to come!

On my way out of JFK I noticed full one third of the passengers of my flight were US citizen! As I came home within the wide arms of my wife and children I felt I have left a part of my soul to my birthplace, the turbulent chaotic city Kolkata!
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Sabya99

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

...it was worth the wait, Sabyasachi! The details about CCU, and the details about the runway lights gives it your flavour. However, I missed out a reference to the Kilo taxiway Razz

What also did not escape my notice was the four meal services on the JFK flight, yes, I have very pleasant memories of my AI101/102 flights!
Thanks for sharing this with us, Sumantra.

Spiderguy252

Good report.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 3:12 pm Post subject:

Super stuff here, sir!
Fantastic report! I think the next you get back, it should be in DEL T3 and the new Kolkata terminal, a completely different perspective!

Regards
Jishnu
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sabya99 · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 8:03 am Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Thanks, Sabyasachi. You just made my day (and made me suffer hunger pangs as well Razz

)
Cheers, Sumantra.

sabya99 · Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:28 pm Post subject: