Count this into stuff that does not affect us, but we still need to know. The Delhi Airport Terminal 3 opened roughly about eight years ago, and at that time was the most modern terminal in India. The GMR group no doubt put in a lot of effort in the product they produced, but in the end, people seemed to remember one of the two things, the Hand Murals on arrival, or the Brown carpets on departure.
Delhi Airport Terminal 3 (The artifacts on the left)
I’ve long figured I found the airport too bland after I started using the new Mumbai Terminal 2 which mostly is a museum posing as an airport terminal. However, I never came to realize that people had even an intense dislike for these carpets. They have been tweeting about it since forever it seems.
Long time since I bitched about the carpet at T3, Delhi.. Here it is now. Ugly. Dog. Carpet.
— Tisca Chopra (@tiscatime) September 21, 2014
Have to say Delhi’s T 3 positively marvelous in comparison to serpentine lines at every other major airport. Dirty carpets notwithstanding
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) April 3, 2013
What’s with the carpets at d airports..so difficult to wheel d luggage plus dey are stinky #delhiairport #terminal3
— FUF (@fashionufeel) June 8, 2015
Hey @DelhiAirport – what would it take to get you to:
a) stop playing that crappy music?
b) change those ugly, musty carpets?Who thought of carpeting the airport in a city like Delhi anyway?
— Raheel Khursheed (@Raheelk) April 22, 2018
Moreover, all it took was one Tweet earlier this month to move things. Except, this time the Tweet was not to the airport but the aviation ministry.
@jayantsinha @DelhiAirport #T3 at Delhi needs massive makeover. Almost all passengers want the dirty rugs to go. Please, let us not fall prey to a sunk investment fallacy. It is very inconvenient and now, stinkingly smelly also, to walk to the boarding gates.
— Suyash Gupta (@suyashgupta) August 18, 2018
Now it may look like one Tweet, but just in his usual style, the aviation ministry took note of the Tweet and passed it along to the Delhi Airport Twitter team for, well, some response. This is how Indian bureaucracy works, and this could have just been ignored, and that would be the end of this.
@DelhiAirport please follow up https://t.co/59wlielgMh
— Jayant Sinha (@jayantsinha) August 18, 2018
Except, Delhi Airport maybe caved in and decided those carpets be no longer required.
Hi Suyash,
Thank you for the feedback. We have initiated the design and implementation process for the replacement of carpet with hard flooring in the passenger movement area along the piers in a phased manner.— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) August 23, 2018
Now, one part of me is happy that Indian airports are becoming so PROactive, the other part of me is not so pleased because this is not a decision they made on the back of one Tweet. The whole of Delhi Airport is supposed to undergo a new development as a part of the next masterplan of the airport, and this could be a part of that redevelopment plan.
Oh, and remember, the best airport in the world, Changi, also has carpets, tonnes of them. Moreover, so do many airports around the globe. At Delhi Airport, the carpeting is done in the secure holding area, where technically people are not supposed to have heavy bags (just 7 kg per person, remember?) So, how on earth are people having problems with the carpets of all things. I use the walkway all the time, and it works out fine for me.
Where do you stand on the carpet debate at Delhi Airport? Did you like those carpets or did you find them messy and an eyesore?
Love your wonderful ideas. Carpet idea was good but it is cost high to maintenance to keep it clean.
Carpets at airports are just wrong. Regardless of whether it’s Delhi, London, Singapore or any other airport. Most look somewhere between tacky and awful and are stained because passengers simply don’t care whatever they drop onto the carpets.
While there’s plenty of ugly hard flooring in airports (or other buildings) around the world as well, even the most ugly hard flooring hasn’t come close to the tackyness of carpets… well… at least in my point of view.
Obviously, a lot of this is a matter of personal perception, where the concept of “right” and “wrong” doesn’t really exist.
Nonetheless – I, for one, applaud every airport that ends up correcting the mistake of using carpet.
No problem with the carpets..and love the Mirchi T3 local radio
I have been many times through the terminal almost once every month. A quick snack at Amex lounge near gate 28 and then 37 Gate to catch the flight. Never had a problem because of carpets.
Carpet idea was good but it is high maintenance to keep it clean.
I liked the carpets in Delhi, it felt part of the Indian vibe whereas the carpets in Singapore only say to me, ‘dumpy casino where sad gamblers spend their last stake.’
Rugs are the smaller evil. How about that horrible annoying music? Who does that?
the colour and design is crap … it is stained at so many places… in a hot country/city it adds to the heat inside thus requiring more energy to cool up the place. Hard floor with good tiles/marble type of tiles will give a clean and shining look and will make it look even more spacious and comforting to the eyes. The mustard colour throughout is so monotone and unpleasing to the eye. Good they are getting rid of it.
May be one of the exception but I actually prefer the carpet.
When dragging the trolley, it ensures no annoying noise by other passengers. Compared to the escalator or even hard floor.
I’ve passed through IGIA T3 plenty of times myself. I have to say, I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you whether or not there was carpet if I was asked.
So, I guess the carpet isn’t offensive to me.