Airport duty-free bustles after floor tweak; Easier access for fliers post changes
Telegraph | 18 March 2025
Calcutta: The duty-free area of the Calcutta airport’s international section, usually sleepy because of a lack of flights and passengers, is looking busy because of a tweak in the floor plan.
Calcutta airport officials said the security-hold area of the international section, like the domestic area, is changing. The expansion work is under way.
“The work to refurbish the security-hold area of the international section started in November last year, and we plan to complete it by December 2025. The design is being tweaked to accommodate more commercial stores and additional seating for passengers,” said Calcutta airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria.
Metro spoke to airport officials and passengers to find out how the changes were affecting them.
Expansion plan
The security hold area of the international section is now 10,324 square metres. It will be increased to 10,594 sq m utilising some of the unused spaces, said Beuria.
“The existing security check-in counters would be shifted as part of the refurbishing plan. The area where the security check-in counters are will have more commercial stores, including retail and food and beverages,” said Beuria.
“It will also have more seats for passengers,” he said.
New security check-in counters are being built near the duty-free liquor store.
However, the number of boarding gates is not increasing in the international area, said an airport official.
The security hold area of the domestic section is being increased, said the airport director.
The domestic security hold area is being increased from 13,840 sq m to 14,110 sq m to accommodate more passengers.
On average, Calcutta airport’s domestic section has around 30,000 passengers departing every day on 185 flights. In comparison, the international section handles around 2,500 departing passengers on 19 flights.
The good
Airport officials said the retail stores like those of perfumes, which were earlier spread over a large area and hence often not visited by many passengers, have been consolidated into a smaller area in front of the lounge and the Biswa Bangla store.
“The number of international passengers is very few. On top of that, most of these stores were spread thin across a large area and so, they would mostly be empty or closed,” said an airport official.
“However, because of the change in the floor plan of the security hold area, some pop-up stores have been created, and all the retail stores have been brought into a consolidated area, which is giving it a busy look,” he said.
Aishwarya Mukhopadhyay, pursuing her PhD at Oxford University, was pleasantly surprised when she was taking a flight from Calcutta to Dubai and onwards to London in the first week of March.
“Usually, I find the duty-free area dark and dim, and most stores are shut. There used to be only a few options, and those were for liquor and chocolates,” said Mukhopadhyay, who travels frequently between Calcutta and London.
This time, she deposited her carry-on suitcase as checked-in luggage.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of small retail stores and a bustling duty-free perfume store. I bought a handbag,” she said.
“There were three such stores, including the Biswa Bangla one, and all of them were crowded,” she said.
There is a coffee shop and a bar.
“Earlier, eating used to be a huge problem in the international security hold area as there were not enough options. This time, I had coffee and french fries,” said Mukhopadhyay.
The not so good
The liquor and chocolate stores, however, are presently out of bounds for some passengers because of the renovation work.
“The area near the duty-free liquor store has been cordoned off and many passengers are now unable to see the store. So, the sales there have gone down,” said an official.
A passenger said he had planned to buy liquor on his way to Singapore but was unable to do so because he could not find the store.
“The area is cordoned off temporarily because of the renovation work. The new security check-in counters are being built there. Once the counters become operational, the liquor store will be easier to access,” said an airport official.