Changi and Heathrow

Heathrow needs a third runway for Britain's continued prosperity as a world financial centre, the Guardian reported yesterday quoting Gordon Brown. Heathrow needs more than a new runway from my experience last month when I flew to London with my wife and my son. He is spending this semester at a university in Britain and will return to his college in America early next year.

We flew with Air India from Calcutta (Kolkata) to London. Heathrow is overpowering in its vastness and impersonality. The underground corridors we had to walk through seemed interminable, ditto the queues at immigration. The officer at the counter, however, once we reached him, was friendly. A bearded Sikh gentleman from India who has lived in Britain for more than two decades, he waved us through in no time.

Friendly too was the driver of the private taxi waiting for us. He took us in a lift down to the carpark, helped us with our luggage and pointed out the sights as he drove us to our friend's house.

I didn't realise how inconvenient Heathrow can be until I was back at the airport again with my wife for our return flight to Calcutta. A friend dropped us off. But we couldn't just drive up to the terminal and alight at the kerb the way we do at Changi airport here in Singapore and Dum Dum airport in Calcutta. We had to walk quite a long way from the dropoff point. The busy traffic made things worse. Our friend couldn't wait with cars piling up behind him. We had to get out of the car and grab a trolley and push off fast. Luckily, there were two of us. My wife could keep an eye on the luggage while I got the trolley.

As we walked to the airport terminal, the traffic and the crowd reminded me of the Howrah and Sealdah railway stations in Calcutta. But not even the bustle outside prepared me for the scene inside -- it was so crowded. I thanked my lucky stars we were flying to Calcutta and not to Bombay. The queue for the Air India Bombay flight snaked so long the head was hardly visible from the tail.

But I was impressed by the politeness of the airport staff and the security people and the order they maintained. The security checks proceeded smoothly, which seemed amazing considering the sheer number of people involved. The only place where I have seen so many airline passengers is O'Hare in Chicago, and there too the checks were smooth and efficient, but it's amazing all the same.

After the checks, of course, we had to cool our heels for the boarding gates to open. It was good we could rest our feet, for when the gates did open, we had to take another long walk. We had to walk for almost 20 minutes according to the TV monitor in the waiting lounge showing the distance to the gates.

The little airport in Calcutta seemed so pleasant after the vastness of Heathrow. As usual, we had to wait a long time to get our luggage; Calcutta isn't the most efficient of airports, but it's not big and impersonal.

And now I am back in Singapore. My wife is in Calcutta, my son in Britain. Much as I miss them, I must admit there's a lot to appreciate about Singapore -- not least of all, its airport. I didn't have to walk a long way to the immigration counter. My suitcases arrived smoothly, shortly after I reached the baggage carousel. I could push the trolley all the way to the taxi stand just outside the arrival lounge. Changi airport is designed for happy landings.