Trivandrum Airport

Just arrived at the new international terminal yesterday. The terminal is only a few months old but already it looks 15-20 years old due to shoddy construction and poor maintenance. Plate-glass windows are stained and dirty cracks are starting to develop on interior walls general aesthetics are extremely poor and the whole place is permeated with a faint smell of urine and bathroom disinfectant. The contrast with overseas airports is shocking. The immigration area looked shoddy and unimpressive the agents were in small open booths unprotected by glass and the surrounding security barrier was low enough to just climb over if one was so inclined. There was no separation of queues everybody used the same counters. Baggage took an hour to arrive and did so in very small instalments. Outside the shoddiness continued with the vast awning over the kerbside featuring peeling paint and tons of embedded dirt. Why pretend to build new terminals when the end-product is an ugly and poorly maintained eyesore?

The new airport at Trivandrum is a no doubt a major improvement compared to the old one. But expect long delays at both arrivals and departure. At Arrivals depending on the time you arrive you could be held up for 30 mins to an hour just to clear immigration. Luggage could take another 1 hr. Same is the case at Departure the 2 or 3 cops check each and every passenger before sending you to check-in - this queue is outside the airport can take 30-45 mins. Check-in is reasonable but immigration again is too slow. They call you only 1.5 hrs before flight take off normally to stand in the immigration queue. The lounge is only for business class travellers provided check-in staff gives you a coupon to use.

Travelling through the new terminal at Trivandrum is a world removed from the old terminal. Though they could have built in larger common areas especially around baggage claim at arrivals and a few more immigration counters one does get a feeling of enhanced space and comfort. It is new and shiny right now but will it last? Plenty of seating areas dotted around the departures area but the business lounge is a bit of a joke cramped and dingy. Authorities need to regulate the crowd of greeters at the exits who swarm all over the parking and meeting area. All in all though a big improvement!

The old international terminal really has reached the end of it's useful life - when are they going to finally get the new terminal open - it's been complete for months? The domestic terminal is markedly better but then traffic levels are pretty low and I've never seen it at busy times. As others have stated - don't exchange money at the airport - they rip you off something terrible.

Trivandrum Airport is best avoided. One and a half hours queuing for departure Immigration with two or three Policeman on duty and none of them in a hurry. I hear that a new terminal is completed but the authorities await some big wig from central Government who refuses to attend and open it! The officials at the Airport are bossy and can be rude - not an airport that I am in a hurry to visit again.

Trivandrum Airport is located 10 kms from City Centre. So pay no more than 100 Indian Rupees to get a rickshaw to the city centre such as Aristo Junction where the bulk of the Tourist Hotelas are located. Change only a small amount of currency at the Airport as the exchange rate for sterling is brutal. I was offered 54 Indian rupees for £1 sterling while The Post Office on Mahatma Road gave me 72.34 Indian Rupees for £1 sterling. This is a small airport with two police officers at the entrance to check your reservations. However if you have electronic ticketing which I had they are not familiar with you may be delayed admission. Better have some documentation with you before you try to get into airport . Arriving at the airport in Trivandrum is quite an experience. I may have landed in the middle of the night but the city's inhabitants weren't sleeping. Judging by the sea of faces outside they'd all turned up to welcome me. Not so apparently it's always like this.

Trivandrum airport is relatively clean and there is a fair amount of seating both before and after security. It is a small provincial airport but can seem quite crowded at times. Early in the morning the queue for security was long. The Business Class Lounge is terrible. There are about ten dirty and torn white leather sofas which would be refused by any charity you tried to give them to. The toilet there is reasonably clean. If you are travelling economy do not waste money paying to stay in this small unappetizing room.

The airport is gradually improving with new investment and better provisions reflecting the increase in traffic over the past five years. However this is still an Indian Airport and therefore prone to seemingly meaningless bureaucratic processes but things are getting better (particularly in the domestic terminal and international departures). The immigration queues can be pretty daunting during busy periods but that happens all over the world. The catering facilities are best avoided and the toilets in international arrivals are pretty scary. Don't exchange money at the airport counters on arrival - the exchange rates are rubbish compared with elsewhere in TRV and Kovalam.