Mumbai airport gets a body scanner for trial run

According to the latest reports, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, will get a new body scanner in a month’s time. The machine was fitted at the airport over the last weekend at the international departure area’s security hold area, and is going to be checked for efficiency by experts. The new body scanner system will definitely upgrade the airport security system of India.
As of now, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport is the only other airport to have this facility in India. The airport recently conducted a successful first run for its Bengaluru to Mumbai Vistara flight. According to an official at the Mumbai airport, “The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) will conduct the trial run at CSMIA in a couple of days. They need to ensure it follows the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) guidelines.”


The body scanner can handle 300 passengers per hour, and will be storing scanned images of passengers for a minimum of seven days. If the airport goes ahead to equip itself with scanners, Terminal 2 would require at least six scanners to speed up security checks.
In India, 28 airports are classified as hypersensitive, which includes the airports at Delhi, Mumbai, and Jammu and Kashmir among others, while 56 airports are classified as sensitive. According to the Aviation Ministry, these 28 hyper-sensitive, and 56 sensitive airports that are required to install the body scanners by March 2020. The rest have time until March 2021.

Even though the body scanner is based on non-ionising electromagnetic radiation technology, it does not emit any harmful radiation to the body, and pregnant women can also be screened using the same procedure.