E-Paper
Traffic marshals, more entry gates: Centre's plan to decongest airports
At Delhi Airport new security zone- Zone 0 has been created inside the Terminal 3.
The ministry of civil aviation on Thursday released a list of steps to decongest major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai. The ministry said the measures are being implemented with the “utmost consideration for maintaining airport security.” The steps included deployment of traffic marshals, display boards providing waiting time, active use of social media, additional entry gates among others.
Top 10 steps taken to decongest major airports:
1. Traffic Marshals have been posted at the departure forecourt to avoid vehicular congestion.
2. Board displaying least waiting time along with the entry gate number has been put up at vantage points to guide passengers in advance.
3. Display boards have been installed at entry gates providing real time data regarding waiting time. The information on the same is also being shared via social media.
4. Awareness poster at the entry gate for passengers to be ready with Air ticket/ Boarding pass and Identity proof document. Dedicated staff has been deployed at the entry gate to help passengers.
5. Additional entry gates have been opened for passenger entry.
6. At Delhi Airport new security zone- Zone 0 has been created inside the Terminal 3.
7. Installation and commissioning of additional X-ray machines for baggage check to address bottleneck at security points.
8. At Delhi airport, additional 15 X-BIS machines have been added taking the total number of X-ray machines to 25 in T-3 Domestic and 19 in T-3 International.
9. Mumbai Airport operator has commissioned a Domestic to Domestic (D2D) transfer facility, cutting down the Minimum Connection Time for transfer of passengers and crew members and add flexibility to the airline operators in planning their flight schedule and rostering of crew members. Three new security lanes have been added at Mumbai airport for reducing waiting time for passengers.
10. Deployment of additional manpower by CISF has been ensured.
The recent steps to curb traffic at major airports across the country came up after passengers had in December last year raised concerns about congestion at Delhi’s T3, leading to several people missing their flights. After the delays came to light, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had made several visits to T3 in order to ensure that Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) GMR, which operates the Delhi airport, along with airlines and security staff were making efforts to decongest the terminal for smooth passenger flow.
