Congested, busy, excited, but it’s not chaotic at the airport

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 21

Congested, busy, excited, but it’s not chaotic at the airport

Is passenger processing at the Christchurch Airport international arrivals “in the horse-and-buggy era," as Cr Mollie Clark described it last week? Does it take as long to get out of the arrivals hall os to fly across the Tasman, as the airport director, Mr R. C. Buchanan, says it sometimes does? Is it a “sterile customs area,” as it ws described by Cr M. R. Carter?

The clearing of a moderately full jumbo has been timed. All but three passengers who were being given a detailed examination were through in 50 minutes. Queuing at the primary agriculture and customs points lasted for 36 minutes.

Story:

DOUGLAS McKENZIE

Photographs:

DAVID ALEXANDER

Chaos Is the right word to describe what would happen if hundreds of people tried to press past the • same point at the same time.

But it is not a fair word to describe what happens when- a Jumbo airliner arrives at Christchurch Aim port from overseas. More correct words might be “organised chaos” or, better still, “inevitable congestion” unless, of course, the provision of money for an unlimited army of customs ' officers is no object

On Thursday, flight QFS7, a Qantas Boeing 747,- landed at Christ; church at 227 p.m. The first of the 308 passengers arrived in the customs and agricultural hall at 2.38 p.m. Sixty-one minutes later the place .was deserted again apart from one passenger suspected of having “committed an offence” who was being interviewed privately. At 3.06 p.m. the last of the passengers had cleared the primary agricultural desk, eight minutes laterthey were through the primary Customs immigration point, and at 3.16 pun. the carousel baggage conveyor, which was empty but for one airline bag- and two t random straps that nobody appeared to want, was switched off.

By now the cleared passengers ’ had: been pouring out of the exit for some time, and by 3.20 p.m. the departing queue had become stragglers apart; from one or two groups like sports teams.

AH but three passengers, who were having their baggage examined in some detail had gone by 3.28 • p.m. and the last two left together at 3.39 p.m. This accounted for everybody except the suspect, who was being invited to justify his customs declaration. ’ ' ?

Mr P. A. Anderton, the chief customs officer at the airport, and Mr G. H. Thomson, the Christchurch Collector of Customs, were, somewhat unusually, in the arrivals hall to accompany a reporter and a photographer but there is no reason- to believe that theirpresence spurred the staff to any special effort. Mr Thomson said the system was designed to facilitate the passage of travellers with the single proviso that the Customs Department • enforced the legislation under which it

worked. “There is no excuse for delaying passengers without a good reason,” he said. But customs officers will delay passengers seriously if this seems to be necessary. The department is try» ing to improve its system of processing passengers and is experimenting with ideas which will be adopted generally at international airports in New Zealand if they are found to be worth while. Most passengers, about 80 per cent, go along the “fast track,” These are the ones whose declarations are accepted and who have no duty to pay. Their form is stamped “yellow exit” and they are free to claim their baggage and depart. If duty is payable they are directed to an assessment desk and then to a payment desk. The passengers will have filled in their declaration on the plane: they get a chance to amend it : at the desk when they are asked questions. After this they will be embarrassed if their declaration does not tally with the. goods. Some of the passengers are selected for baggage examination. Those directed to the “orange” desk have one item only inspected: it may be only their wallet, it may be

anything. These passengers are classed as “medium risk.” The “blue” desk deals with passengers classified as “high risk” although, as the department hastens to remark; “risk” is only a term, not an accusation. Here, all bags are opened and, if necessary, a per-

sonal search is . included. The agricutlure-desk indicator is, appropriately, green. Passengers are not harassed. It is a measure of the burden of customs

duty collection that of the 308 travelling on QFS7 only 22 had to pay. The total collected was $lBl7. The "free” lane took 224 passengers, agriculture 59, "orange” 20, and “blue” five. This is the machinery of customs procedure at the airport. Why have there been complaints about the length of time the processing takes? The Customs Department tends to say, quite naturally, that it is not its fault. Mr Thomson puts the problem down to three main reasons and a subsidiary one. But he emphasises that the reasons are already disappearing, that the “crisis,” such as it was, is over, and that things can only get better. First is the problem of the baggage carousel. The building was designed with two of these. They were not large enough. One is out of action because it is being enlarged. When this work is finished the other will be remodelled. This means the baggage-

handling capacity Is down to half the old (inadequate) level. Eventually it will be far greater. From its point of view the Customs Department sees the greatest delay as arising from the cheap winter fares on the Tasman offered by the airlines. New Zealanders jump at these and it has been found that returning residents bring back hardware in no small way. The result is that there is much more declaring of items to be done than at

other times. But this seasonal factor is already dying down. The department finds that tourists do not bring much in that concerns duty payment. Mr Thomson said that one incoming flight recently had a high proportion of returning . .New Zealanders and 123 people had to pay duty of $9740. The department- is also disappointed that its requests to the Christchurch City Council for improved coloured panels for quicker passenger identification of their lanes have not borne better fruit. It would also like to see more baggage trollies. City councillors had criticised the passenger processing, said Mr Thomson, but not one had come out to see .the situation for himself. If there were more customs officers on duty this would quicken the process, but how would they be. . employed between planes? The department had a duty to be economic.