Government steps in to decongest key airports

NEW DELHI: Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday issued a string of directives aimed at easing congestion at major Indian airports amid the passenger rush ahead of Christmas break, including planning well in advance for peak-hour traffic. Busy airports like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are witnessing serpentine queues at terminal entry, check-in, security and immigration, leaving flyers with frayed nerves.

“Held a detailed discussion with heads of all major Indian airports, CISF (which manages airport security) and immigration officials on capacities deployed and those required at every point to process domestic and international passengers smoothly through the peak travel season,” Scindia tweeted. He said plans for peak-hour capacity will be worked out, based on passenger processing capacity at each major airport. Landing cards will be distributed on board and filled up prior to arrival, so as to minimise queues at immigration counters. Scindia also directed “capacity augmentation of security manpower and hand baggage screening”, besides assessment of x-ray capacity for baggage.

Following his announcement, Mumbai International Airport Ltd issued a passenger advisory asking them to reach at least 3. 5 and 2. 5 hours before international and domestic flights, respectively, “to allocate additional time for travel related formalities and mandatory security protocols”.

The scenes are chaotic at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. Immigration, especially, is a major pain point for foreigners. Such is the rush that Delhi International Airport Ltd has asked airlines operating from T3 to shift some of their peak hour flights to T1 and T2.
Airport operators said the longest queues were seen at security and immigration.

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