London:
Kolkata airport surpasses London's Heathrow airport which languishes at 99th place in a confidential international table that informs the aviation industry about passenger opinions, a media report said today.
According to The Times, Britain's main gateway, which operates at the brink of its capacity, is way down in the rankings of the world's 146 principal airports, with passengers bemoaning long security queues and poor "ambience".
Kolkata is 95th in the list while Frankfurt is 126 and Paris' Charles de Gaulle is 137th.
According to the report, it takes 40 per cent longer to fly from Heathrow to Paris, despite more than 30 years of advances in aviation.
The journey time - measured from departure gate to arrival gate - has increased from 57 minutes in 1979 to between 70 and 80 minutes last year, suggesting that congestion is needlessly delaying flights.
Singapore's Changi airport is the best airport in the world followed by Incheon Seoul, Hong Kong International and AI Ain, UAE.
Beijing Capital International is the fifth followed by Pu Deng Shanghai, Gimpo Int, Seoul, Jackson Mississippi Humberside and Kuala Lumpur International.
"Heathrow has made significant progress over the past year improving our performance, particularly compared to other European hub airports," a spokesman for BAA said.
"We are pleased with the progress made on improving courtesy, service and reducing queue times across the airport."
"Clearly there is more that we can do and that is why we are investing 1 billion pound a year in the airport's infrastructure," he said.
The status of the New Delhi airport, considered one of the finest in the world, is not mentioned in the report.