The Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi has bagged the top position in India in Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), as per a survey conducted by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) through a third-party surveying body, officials from the airport said on Monday.

The largest airport in Jharkhand secured 4.79 out of five in the grading system of the survey, leaving behind Gaya, Surat, Agartala, Bhopal, Khajuraho, Vijaywada and 10 other “medium sized” airports, officials added.

Director of Birsa Munda Airport, Vinod Sharma said that the facilities in the various airports were judged on 33 parameters including cleanliness, hassle-free check-in and check-out, availability of clean toilets, availability of restaurants, quality of food and beverages, shopping experience, parking facility and the all-round ambience of the airport.

“The survey is done separately for large airports, which have a passenger density of over 25 lakh. Medium-sized airports like ours fall in a separate category, while small airports have a different category,” said Sharma. “The survey period was January to June. Birsa Munda Airport has topped among 17 airports in the survey, and we see this as an opportunity to do even better in the future,” he added.

The Birsa Munda Airport is fast growing in terms of connectivity with other cities. The largest airport in Jharkhand has 30 flights connecting Ranchi to important cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. However, many of these flights have not resumed after the lockdown this year. The airport also has an international bay, but is yet to get any international flights.

This is the first time that Birsa Munda Airport participated in the CSI survey, airport officials said. They added that additional measures were taken during the survey period to ensure hassle-free experience to the passengers flying to and from Ranchi.

In the survey, Ranchi’s score was followed by Gaya airport in Bihar, which secured 4.77. Surat scored 4.64, while Agartala, Bhopal and Khajuraho scored 4.62, 4.62 and 4.61 respectively. Vijaywada secured 4.60 in the grading.

The airport in Ranchi is also likely to extend its runway, increase the length of basic strip and construct an isolation bay on extra land that will be allotted to the AAI once the Cabinet gives its nod to the Birsa Munda Airport’s expansion plans, officials said.

The Birsa Munda Airport at present has a 75 meter basic strip, which is the minimum length required for any airport. The length of the basic strip, the airport director said, will be increased to 140 meters once the expansion plan is approved. He added that the behaviour of staff at the airport also played a crucial role in ensuring better CSI rating.