Sep 26 (Mumbai Mirror): On Friday, Go Air successfully managed the transition of its departure operations to terminal 1B of city airport. Despite the carrier sending 17 lakh SMSes and spreading the word around, the move meant chaos and confusion for some passengers who missed their flights.

Top officials of both, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) and GoAir monitored the switch of terminals that started at 04.45 am with passengers of flight G8 305 to Chennai using T1B. This was followed by flight number G8 375 at 05.25 am to Goa, G8 390 at 05.50 am to Jaipur and G8 329 at 6 am to Delhi. Airport officials said four families blamed the changes for reporting late. "There were signages all over indicating the realignment. Overall, the shifting was a success," an official said. The driver of a mini coach deployed by MIAL claimed that many of those who arrived in the early hours ended up at 1A.

Senior GoAir officials said that they had been allotted seven check-in counters by MIAL. "Once Jet Airways shifts to T2 in the coming months, GoAir will get additional space. For now, Jet has temporarily made available some of its backend office space to us," the official said.

According to two senior GoAir officials, the decision to shift back to T1B (where it existed before it moved to T1A after Kingfisher's closure) suits the airline perfectly. "The rentals at T2 are much higher than T1A and B. Being a pure domestic carrier, not flying overseas staying put at Santacruz works best for us," they said.

AI staffers clueless on T2 move

Air India, which will be moving its domestic operations entirely to T2 from October 1, is yet to inform its staffers. "There has not been a single official announcement. All we know is what we have read in the media. The airline has kept us in the dark so far," a general manager with the airline said.

But A L Quadros, president of Mumbai Taximen's Union said they have been intimated by the airline about the proposed change. "We've 2,000 taxis for their domestic passengers at Santacruz. While some of them will migrate to Sahar, the rest will cater to Go Air." Since there are already an equal number of taxis at T2, we don't expect it to be difficult in catering to passengers.