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CAA steps to facilitate passengers at Lahore Airport

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) administration, with the help and cooperation of the Army monitoring team, is endeavouring to provide maximum possible facilities to the passengers at the Lahore Airport.

While briefing the newsmen here on Wednesday, Lahore Airport Zonal Manager A.G. Awan said that in order to create what he called a "passenger-friendly" atmosphere at the airport, the CAA administration had taken effective measures to facilitate the passengers.

To eliminate the VIP culture, he said the executive lounge had been converted into domestic lounge. Now on, only the domestic passengers having club class tickets would be eligible to avail of this facility on the payment of prescribed charges. "This will not only eliminate the VIP culture created by the successive political governments, but also generate revenue for the authority," he added.

The zonal manager said to make the international arrival lounge more spacious for free movement of the passengers, arrangements had been made to re-adjust and re-locate a number of counters including the offices of FIA. To facilitate the passengers, arrangements had also been made to add one more immigration counter there.

Similarly, to overcome the traffic problem, a piece of land, adjacent to the Customs cargo, has been acquired on lease which is expected to be ready for parking by the next week. It would be sufficient to accommodate as many as 500 additional vehicles.

To overcome the complaints regarding 114 flight inquiry, two additional telephone lines had also been acquired, A.G. Awan informed the reporters.

All vendors and counters of private airlines had been removed from the Concourse Hall of the airport and had been provided an alternate space for the purpose. This step had resulted in easy and free movement of the passengers in the hall, he said.

Besides, he further said for the convenience of international passengers, the scanners of the ASF and Customs had been re-located. Under the new arrangement, the passengers would first get their luggage scanned from the Customs machines and then they would proceed towards the ASF check-in machines, he stated.

He said this would not only improve the efficiency of the staff, but also save the time of the passengers.

Taking stock of the complaints regarding overcharging by yellow cab drivers, the CAA administration has also fixed the rates of the cabs.

Rate lists had been displayed on various points of the parking lot and the passengers had been advised not to pay more than the listed fare, the zonal manager said.