Hyderabad Intl Airport to use social media

Sources said though the concession agreement with the government mandates only maintaining a complaint register for the passengers, RGHIA also accepts complaints and feedback through other channels such as e-mail, post, website, a toll- free number, feedback kiosks and feedback forms.

"The Airport already has an official account on Facebook with thousands of visitors. Currently a team of experts is working on how to go vigorously using social media. It serves two purposes, it helps promote the airport and can also get real-time feedback and complaints," airport sources said.

But official spokesperson of the airport said the management did not want to comment on this at present. The airport received 236 complaints last year, 325 in 2010, and all of them were addressed, the spokesperson said.

According to CAPA-SITA`s latest report on India Aviation, social networks are increasingly being used for communication with passengers. "Airlines will see an increase in providing this capability from 23 percent to 76 percent by 2014, while airports will see a rise to 73 percent from the current 36 percent," the report said.

In the last two years, four out of five PPP airports in the country have established social media presence. Currently social networking is being used primarily for customer relationship, though in future it may be used for promotion of services and flight updates, the report added.