Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has summoned the CEO of Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) and others on December 15 in connection with passengers facing crowding at the airport. This came as passengers have been complaining about long waiting hours at the airport and some also shared pictures of the crowd at the airport on social media over the past few days.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has written a letter to all airlines regarding congestion at airports and requested them to place real time data on their social media feeds regarding waiting time at respective airports’ entry gates. The ministry also advised airlines to deploy sufficient manpower at all check-in/baggage drop counters well in advance to ensure de-congestion and smooth flow of passengers at airports.
The ministry said it has come to the notice that the airline check-in counters at certain airports are found unmanned or inadequately manned during early morning hours leading to congestion at the airports, thereby causing inconvenience to the passengers.
YSRCP MP V Vijayasai Reddy is the chairperson of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.
Long queues, delays and chaos continues at the Delhi Airport and T3 terminal is reportedly the worst affected after a huge influx of winter season travelers. The authorities on Monday put in place an action plan whereby flights during morning peak hours will be reduced and efforts will also be made to move some flights from Terminal 3. The action plan followed civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inspecting the arrangements at Terminal 3 (T3) to deal with the congestion.
Earlier on Monday, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited the Delhi airport and held discussions with all stakeholders on ways to address the congestion at the airport amid complaints from passengers about long queues and waiting hours in recent days, especially in Terminal 3 of the airport.
A look at the latest updates in Delhi airport chaos:
- IndiGo airlines has issued advisory for passengers to bring down congestion at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. IndiGo has requested passengers to reach the airport at least 3.5 hours prior to domestic departures, and to carry only one piece of hand baggage weighing 7 kgs for a smooth security check.
- Under pressure from social media complaints, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited T3 early on Monday and spent more than four hours with the officials, issuing strict directives to airlines and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL).
- Amid a slew of complaints, the civil aviation ministry officials drew up a 4-point action plan that includes the use of additional X-ray screening systems and debunching of flights that it claims will help progressively reduce the peak hour departures to 14 flights.
- To address Delhi airport congestion, authorities on Monday put in place an action plan whereby flights during morning peak hours will be reduced and efforts will also be made to move some flights from Terminal 3. Apart from posting real-time updates on waiting time on social media, a command centre will monitor crowding at the gates on a real-time basis, officials said.
- Crowd managers and usherers will guide travellers. Further, airlines will be notified about the crowd numbers so that check-in points can be made congestion-free.
- Number of flights between 5 am and 9 am will be reduced and it will also be explored to move some flights to T1 and T2 or to non-peak hours at T3, as part of the action plan. The peak hours are from 5 am to 9 am and 4 pm to 8 pm. At T3 domestic, additional ATRS (Automatic Tray Retrieval System) machines for baggage check will be deployed to help reduce the congestion.
- Before the coronavirus pandemic, there were 13 ATRS machines installed on the ground — 11 for passengers + 2 for crew and specially-abled. This number has been increased to 16 (10 ATRS + 6 conventional X-ray machines) in the last few days. This will be increased further to 17 soon, and subsequently to 20, the officials said.
- Digital display boards showing waiting time at each entry gate and at least one waiting time board at the terminal checkpoint will be put in place.
- The ministry expects things will be sorted out over a week. The measures will be implemented soon, and the changes are expected to take effect in the next six to seven days, the officials said.
- Delhi’s IGIA, also the country’s largest airport, has three terminals — T1, T2 and T3. All international flights as well as some domestic services operate from T3. On an average, it handles around 1.90 lakh passengers and about 1,200 flights on a daily basis.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment