Originally Posted by
mod4
Here's a bit of history. MAA is getting upgraded right now. T1 and T4 will be used for domestic flights. T4 exclusively for TATA airlines (Air India, Air India Express + Air Asia India, Vistara)
T2 is the newly built integrated terminal (but only for international flights) which has taken over all international operations from T3 + T4 and does not have a proper lounge. It has a makeshift Plaza premium lounge (for now). The Maharaja lounge that was situated in the older terminal cannot be used right now. Phase 2 of the upgrade project is to demolish T3 and build a new international terminal to boost capacity which is going to start in a while. I am not aware of any contract lounges there. Things may change before Dec 2023 and from initial reviews T2 seems to be a better terminal than T3 and T4. Hope I've answered all your questions.
Thank you...this helps. Apologies...I have a few more questions:
1. What was the terminal number that was (re)built in 2014? Because I recall that had a few more lounges and they were good when I last visited many years ago. Are they all closed?
2. So, once Phase 2 is complete, they will move international operations again to the "new international terminal"? If yes, that seems like a lot of shifts. If yes, that reflects very poor planning and design.
3. When they built this "supposedly great T2" why were the lounges not given priority? Why only ONE lounge and that too a makeshift one? It does not instill confidence in AAI's abilities. If I compare non-AAI managed ones like BLR, BOM, DEL they are all class apart.
4. When (or if) will MAA get out of the clutches of AAI and get privatized?
5. If the end state scenario will be T1 and T4 are both domestic with international in the middle, it appears to be another shoddy design principle...as someone transferring to another domestic airport (say DEL-MAA-Tiruchi/CBE/Madurai) would have to traverse a long distance, especially in the absence of people mover system like a monorail .
6. Anyone with half a brain would design a monorail or inter-terminal train to traverse these terminals that are built on a straight line (building terminals on a straight line is a bad design to begin with as it is not efficient for transfers). They are investing in travelators/moving walkways which are pretty slow and inefficient especially when the distance to cover is about 1-2 kms. A train would be much faster.
Really fed up with AAI