In the wake of complaints by users, steps taken for decongestion at major airports

New Delhi, March 24, 2023 

In the wake of increasing complaints by users, several measures have been taken to decongest major airports like Delhi and Mumbai, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.

Replying to a written question in the House, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen V K Singh (Retd) said additional traffic marshals have been posted at the departure forecourt to avoid vehicular congestion.

Boards displaying the least waiting time along with the entry gate number have been put up at vantage points to guide passengers in advance.

Display boards have been installed at entry gates providing real-time data regarding waiting time. This information is also being shared on social media.

Awareness posters have been put up at the entry gate for passengers to be ready with Air ticket/ Boarding passes and Identity proof.  Staff, tasked with helping the passengers, have been deployed at the entry gates. 

Additional entry gates have also been opened.  At Delhi Airport, a new security zone- Zone 0 has been set up inside Terminal Additional X-ray machines have been installed for baggage checking to address bottlenecks at security points.

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.

Mumbai Airport operator has commissioned a Domestic to Domestic (D2D) transfer facility, cutting down the Minimum Connection Time for the transfer of passengers and crew members and adding flexibility to the airline operators in planning their flight schedule and rostering crew members. Three new security lanes have been added at Mumbai airport for reducing waiting time for passengers.

Deployment of additional manpower by CISF has been ensured. Monitoring has been stepped up through CCTV & Command Centre. The airport is also using Count Meter for crowd management.

Airport operators have been advised to re-balance peak hour traffic between terminals by shifting slots to optimise flights during peak hours.

Airlines have been advised to deploy sufficient manpower at all check-in/baggage drop counters.

Incoming international passengers are being encouraged to fill out the Disembarkation cards onboard. Manpower is being deployed by airport operators at disembarkation points to assist passengers to fill out the form.

Air travellers are being encouraged to use DigiYatra, a biometric-enabled seamless travel experience based on facial recognition technology. Inflight announcements are also being made to encourage the usage of the DigiYatra platform. At all the entry gates, 2D Bar code scanners have been installed to facilitate automated entry.

Airlines have been advised to ensure full compliance with barcodes on tickets to help the easy flow of passengers at entry/security gates.

Monitoring on daily basis is being carried out by airport operators, airlines and the Ministry of Civil Aviation for ensuring compliance with mitigation measures. All these measures are implemented with the utmost consideration for maintaining airport security.

NNN