Airport cleans up act with WhatsApp

KOLKATA: Rudra Sen, a senior executive at a quick service restaurant major who shuttles between Delhi and Kolkata, has seen a marked improvement in the Kolkata airport terminal’s upkeep.
“The maintenance of toilets at Kolkata airport has always been poor at the old terminal and even when operations shifted to the new one. But things have dramatically improved of late.Toilets are clean and dry. I wonder what’s happened to bring about the welcome change,” the frequent flyer remarked.
Rituparna Basu, who often travels to her brother's house in Bangalore, has also noticed the change. The approach to the security check area does not remain clogged with abandoned trolleys anymore and flight display information screens function.
“Housekeeping has also improved. Dust and grime have disappeared from corners,” she said.
So how did the airport authorities ultimately get their act together? Though the upkeep improved since operations moved to the integrated terminal with Airports Authority of India (AAI) outsourcing jobs to private agencies, issues continued as overseeing the maintenance of the facility by the lone terminal manager and his handful of deputies was difficult.
Authorities solved the problem with a cross-platform mobile messaging application. WhatsApp brought together key constituents — airport authorities, airline officials and security personnel — and multiplied the eyes at work.
“The crux of the problem was supervision. There weren’t enough officials to keep a tab on the entire terminal. Once someone spotted a problem, it got fixed. But many things did not get spotted because of lack of manpower,” said airport executive director B P Sharma.
“The WhatsApp group was initially set up as an informal communication platform among key personnel. The CISF commandant, airport director, general managers and the Airline Operators’ Committee chairman were members. But it evolved into the role of a watchdog. Anyone who spotted something amiss posted it on the group. The person concerned would then get the work done,” explained AOC chairman Sarvesh Gupta.
Once the authorities realized its potential, terminal managers who did the rounds were also included in the WhatsApp group, as were general managers of airlines, airport managers of carriers and the CISF deputy commandant. Also, each official told his team to send him a WhatsApp message if they spotted anything wrong. While the core group is 30-strong, the support group is well over 100.
By November, everyone was warming up to the idea. For instance, around 1.07am one day, an airline staffer saw that a section of the check-in islands had caved in. She immediately sent a WhatsApp message with the photograph to the airline station manager who forwarded it to the AAI-AOC-CISF group. By 1.32am, the floor was repaired.
“What would earlier take a week to get done now required only half an hour. When someone else spotted a flight information display system (FIDS) not in operation at 2pm and WhatsApped it, the terminal manager responded in seconds and the screen was repaired within 40 minutes. The terminal manager took a screenshot of the FIDS and posted it. Earlier, this would take at least three days to rectify,” Gupta said.
There have been many instances when posting a photograph of a broken elevator button or of trolleys clogging the security hold area, or of taps overflowing in a toilet on WhatsApp has led to immediate corrective action. After the problems are rectified, photographic evidence is posted back on WhatsApp.