News of the outrageous queues people have been forced to endure at passport control at London's Heathrow airport recently reminded me of the worst airport I ever flew into. Because, national disgrace though the UK Border Agency is, immigration at Heathrow still doesn't come close to arriving at Tajikistan's Dushanbe airport, where a customs official once asked me for $5,000 in cash to be allowed into the country. It was 2001, after 9/11, and The Independent sent me to Afghanistan to cover … [Read more...]
The World’s Most Overpriced Airport
April 27, 2012 by 1 Comment
So, Delhi airport is to become the world's most expensive for airlines. It's one of those stories you barely notice, just another sign of India's booming economy -- until you stop to think: it doesn't make any sense at all. India's aviation sector is in crisis. Kingfisher Airlines, the toast of the industry a few years ago, is on the verge of collapse, unable to pay its pilots' salaries or its fuel bills, its international flights cancelled, its domestic operations pared back to … [Read more...]