With the deployment of additional security personnel and modern machines, major airports across the nation are preparing for the upcoming festive season rush.
During the festive and winter seasons last year, many airports witnessed congestion, leading to longer wait times at various touch points in passenger processing.
The fresh development comes after Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia had personally inspected arrangements at the Delhi airport and directed the operators of other major airports to identify bottlenecks and increase capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), authorities are taking action on multiple fronts to tackle congestion.
“The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will deploy additional manpower in two phases by October and November, and the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) will reinforce staff starting from October,” said a senior Ministry official.
“Improvements in security infrastructure will be made by adding extra X-ray machines, check-in counters, and self-baggage drop facilities at the airport. Social media platforms will be utilised to provide real-time updates to passengers, making their transit through the airport seamless. Passengers will also be informed about enhanced processing capacity and expanded security check areas,” the official added.
According to officials, the congestion last year was caused due to insufficient airport infrastructure, lack of adequate X-ray screening machines, flight bunching during peak hours, and a shortage of CISF and immigration manpower.
To address these issues, immediate actions were taken, including increased X-ray machines, additional entry gates, and support manpower to assist passengers.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs has been involved in ensuring full manning of immigration counters, and the airport operators were directed to ease out the number of flights during peak hours.
“Furthermore, measures like installing 2D barcode scanners at entry gates and advising airlines to include barcodes on tickets have been implemented to facilitate smooth entry at security gates,” the Ministry official said.
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