Aviation Ministry directs Mumbai, Bengaluru airports to redesign systems to reduce congestion

During the meeting, the secretary emphasised that Mumbai and Bengaluru airport operators have to provide the requisite facilities commensurate with the growth in the number of passengers.

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To combat the influx of passengers and increased chaos in major airports of the country, The Ministry of Civil Aviation instructed the operators of Mumbai and Bengaluru airports on Wednesday to add more capacity and, when needed, restructure their systems and procedures to handle peak passenger traffic. In response to complaints about traffic jams at several airports, the ministry also stated that things will probably get better in the next few days.

On Wednesday, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal held a meeting with the operators of Mumbai and Bengaluru airports to take stock of measures for decongestion during peak hours. The meeting was also attended by the Director Generals of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), and other senior officials.

During the meeting, the secretary emphasised that airport operators have to provide the requisite facilities commensurate with the growth in the number of passengers, facilitating 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, according to a release issued by the ministry.

Airport operators have been advised to give daily reports on efforts, including putting up sign boards to indicate the real-time waiting time at entry gates and security lanes and sharing the same through social media feeds.

They have also been asked to check whether all airlines are manning their check-in counters adequately and about the installation of additional X-ray machines to increase the number of security lanes.

Further, they were advised to look at rebalancing the peak hour flight schedule with the availability of security lanes and disseminating all the relevant information to passengers.

About congestion at airports, the ministry said, "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".

The government had taken note that a few major airports are facing congestion and longer waiting time at various touch points in passenger processing due to an increase in the number of air travellers on account of seasonal travels.

In a statement on Wednesday, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) said it has augmented manpower resources with the inclusion of 'passenger service executives' complemented with infrastructural facilities to meet passenger expectations. "In the event of sudden passenger surge, passengers are prioritized as per departure timings," it said.

On December 7, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had directed major airport operators to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand. After being significantly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the country's civil aviation sector is on the recovery path. Domestic carriers flew 4,18,794 passengers on December 20.