All agencies say they are doing their best,  but is it enough to reduce waiting periods?

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Dec 25 (The CONNECT) - Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal reviewed measures taken at Bengaluru and Mumbai Airports for decongestion during peak hours.

The Government took note of the fact that that some major airports are facing congestion and longer waiting time at various touch points in passenger processing due to increase in number of air travellers on account of seasonal travels.  A meeting in this regard was earlier held by Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on December 7, 2022, directing major airport operators to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.

In a frecent meeting, it was emphasized by the Secretary, Civil Aviation that airport operators have to provide the requisite facilities commensurate with the growth in number of passengers, facilitating a hassle-free travel for air passengers. The airport operators must install additional capacity and redesign their systems and processes, wherever needed to be in readiness for any peak demand scenario.

Airport Operators were advised to give daily report on the aspects including (a) Putting Sign Boards to indicate the real time basis waiting time at Entry Gates, Security lane and also sharing of the same through social media feeds, (b) whether all airlines are manning their check-in counters adequately, (c) Installation of additional x-ray machines to increase the number of security lanes, (d) Rebalancing the peak hour flight schedule with the availability of security lanes, (e)  Disseminating all the relevant information to passengers. With the continuous monitoring of the situation at major airports and augmentation of capacity, the situation has improved and is likely to get further eased in coming days.

Meanwhile, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has initiated several key 'Passenger Centric' initiatives and invested in infrastructure upgradation to resourcefully support the growing passenger volumes. CSMIA is closely working with the Ministry to ensure that every effort is made to make the airport experience as seamless as possible.

CSMIA has augmented its manpower resources with the inclusion of ‘Passenger Service Executives’ complemented with Infrastructural facilities to meet passenger expectations and consistently deliver exemplary service standards, an airport spokesperson said.

The initiatives include:

• Passenger Flow and Queue Monitoring System - a digital tool used by the Operation Team to closely monitor passenger footfalls in Security Processing Zone.
• On Ground terminal operations team are deployed at pre security check for Security Restricted Articles removal to reduce the rejection rates at Automated Tray Retrieval System (ATRS).
• Staff deployed at the end of the ATRS machines ensure quick turnaround for security trays.
• Terminal Duty Managers are present at security check for managing the queues and to prioritize Senior citizens and passengers with child in arm in coordination with CISF.
• Given that Immigration and Customs are Sovereign functions, active on ground coordination is done for Queue Management and Resource Mobilization.
• Terminal operations team are deployed at the immigration hall to guide the passengers to designated counters.
• Customer Service Executives deployed at the curbside for proactive passenger assistance, managing queues at the entry gates and PRM assistance.
• Terminal Operations team deployed at Self baggage drop kiosks and CUSS check in kiosks to decongest the traditional check in counters.