Passengers to now have a rocking time at Mumbai airport

The airport’s commercial team hit upon the idea after speaking to some passengers,as part of feedback surveys regularly conducted at the airport.

The airport said the event was planned and executed within the estimated budget and the break even will happen over a period of time. “Gone are the days when an airport used to be a destination only to depart and arrive. Today,passengers look out for more and new things at the airport. A large number of passengers transit from the Mumbai airport and a live event gels well with the overall ambience and vastness of the airport,” the spokesperson added.

In 2009-10,CSIA handled 25.6 million passengers against its capacity of around 25 million. When the integrated terminal T2 comes up in 2013,the airport capacity is expected to touch around 40 million. While live music concerts inside the Mumbai airport’s terminal building will be difficult to pull off,primarily because of space constraints,it is a concept that has been picked up abroad.

At the Austin Bergstrom International Airport in the US,the South by South West (SXSW) music festival is on currently,where different bands have been performing live all of March for a couple of hours every afternoon. The San Francisco International Airport has also held summer music festivals within the terminal building for passengers.

“Any additional revenue that the airport generates will also help cross subsidise aero tariffs and hence should be supported,” said Amber Dubey,director,aerospace and defence at consultancy firm KPMG. “As long as passenger safety,security and convenience is not compromised,we don’t see any reason why an entertainment programme can not be held on airport premises. It will also help promote Indian airports as trendy and in step with the times,” he added.

For the band Blakc,the challenge was to perform at a stage different from the places they had been performing in the past as not many people think of an airport as a place where you can have live music or a rock show. “One of our first thoughts was ‘who is going to come to the airport for a rock show?’. After our performance,nearly seven to eight bands got in touch with us to ask how we could perform at an airport. Since the space was less,we gave the audience a lot more space with the band,” said Anish Menon,a band member.

“We had people sitting six feet away from us. We used two small compact speakers for the sound system as anything louder than that would have been uncomfortable for the audience as well,” he added.