Aviation secy reviews congestion at airport

MUMBAI: After repeated complaints of congestion at airports, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal on Wednesday reviewed the issues during peak hours with airport operators of Mumbai and Bengaluru in a meeting attended by safety and security regulators like Director Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and other senior officials in New Delhi

MUMBAI: After repeated complaints of congestion at airports, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal on Wednesday reviewed the issues during peak hours with airport operators of Mumbai and Bengaluru in a meeting attended by safety and security regulators like Director Generals of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and other senior officials in New Delhi.

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The civil aviation ministry said in a statement that the government had taken cognizance of the fact that a few major airports were facing congestion and longer waiting times at various touch points in passenger processing due to increase in number of air travellers this season.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had in a meeting on December 7 directed major airport operators to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.

In Wednesday’s meeting, Bansal emphasized that airport operators have to provide the requisite facilities commensurate with the growth in number of passengers, facilitating hassle-free travel for air passengers. The airport operators were told to install additional capacity and redesign their systems and processes, wherever needed.

The Mumbai airport, which recorded its highest single-day footfall this year on December 10, witnessed chaos at the airport’s departure gates earlier this month due to increased passenger volumes and the newly introduced integrated security checkpoint system which processed domestic and international passengers together. On Tuesday, international passengers who arrived at the airport complained that they had to spend three to four hours in queues due to inadequate immigration counters open in the early hours and scanning issues with biometric identification.

In a statement, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) claimed it has already initiated several key “passenger centric” initiatives anticipating a rise in passenger footfalls. “CSMIA is closely working with the Ministry to ensure that every effort is made to make the airport experience as seamless as possible.” The airport’s twitter handle has already started tweeting hourly updates to passengers on the estimated time taken various touch points like entry gates and security gates.

Box:

HL: Advice for airport operators

Put sign boards to indicate the real-time waiting time at entry gates and security lanes

Sshare the information with passengers through social media feeds

Man check-in counters adequately

Install additional X-ray machines to increase the number of security lanes

Rebalance peak-hour flight schedule with the availability of security lanes