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AAI Gets Nod To Install Full-Body Scanners At 4 Airports

By LokMarg 13th September 2023

To make security checks quicker and error-free at India’s hypersensitive airports, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) received clearance from the Public Investment Board (PIB) to install full-body scanners that will cut down the passenger frisking time by half.

These full-body scanners will be installed at four airports in the country including Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Goa.

In July, the government had floated a tender to procure 131 full-body scanners– that cut down the average passenger frisking time to 15 seconds from the current 30 and 600 new hand baggage scanners at over Rs 1,000 crore at airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) but it was later withdrawn as it needed clearance from PIB.

Given that all the investment plans with an estimated cost of Rs 500 crores and more fall under the purview of PIB, the initial proposal was to install 131 full-body scanners and 600 new hand-baggage scanner machines at 43 airports that include Amritsar, Goa, Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Varanasi, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Raipur, Tirupati, Bhopal, among others at over Rs 1,000 crore at airports run by the AAI.

However, in a recent meeting between stakeholders involved in the safety and security of airports, it was decided that instead of going for the installation in one go as per the original plan, the PIB gave its nod for the installation of full-body scanners in the four airports that witness maximum footfall among all airports owned and managed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Bureau of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Home Affairs and others.

“After evaluating the success report of full-body scanners at these four airports, other airports in the queue will get the facility at the earliest. In the meeting, various aspects like procurement, installation, training of security personnel and operations were discussed,” said a senior official.

According to officials, these millimetre-wave technology-based full-body scanners work on the principle of body contours, i.e. these are designed to detect objects that could be concealed in the body.

“As the proposal needs approval of PIB, it was reviewed and now full-body scanners will be installed at four airports including thirteen scanners at Kolkata, twelve at Chennai, eight at Goa and five at Pune airport. These airports fall under the hypersensitive category as per BCAS”, added the official.

The AAI manages 137 airports in India, which include 24 international airports, 10 customs airports, and 103 domestic airports. (ANI)

Delhi Home Secy To Chair Meeting On Delhi Airport Congestion

By LokMarg 15th December 2022

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will chair a high-level meeting on airport rush in the national capital on Thursday morning.

The meeting is likely to be held after 11 am in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Senior officers in the MHA, officials in the Minister of Civil Aviation, and others concerned with the matter, including those in Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), will attend the meeting.

The meeting is being held considering the complaints on social media by irate passengers about missed flights and serpentine pre-boarding lines at India’s busiest airport in Delhi.

The pictures posted on Twitter showed overcrowding at Delhi International Airport. There were reports of passengers grumbling about long waits for security checks and mismanagement by the airport staff.

The government has even stepped in to help ease the congestion, with India’s Civil Aviation Ministry earlier saying in a statement that it’s working with airlines to reduce flight departures to 14 during peak hours. It did not disclose data for normal traffic.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia also visited one of the terminals earlier this week and said that he will look into concerns around the management of security checks at Delhi’s T3 Indira Gandhi (IGI) airport in response to a complaint by a passenger on social media. The minister has ordered airport officials to resolve the issues on priority.

Additionally, the Delhi airport is adding baggage screening systems at the security checks and increasing traffic marshals to avoid vehicles clogging the departure.

Delhi airport has deployed 26 additional staffers to help passengers in the entry forecourt and security area and is working with the security agency Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to have full manning through Flexi shift from 5 am to avoid queue build-up. (ANI)

Jyotriaditya Launches Facial Recognition Service ‘DigiYatra’ For Air Travel

By LokMarg 2nd December 2022

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has launched ‘DigiYatra’ at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi, Airports Authority of India (AAI) informed through a press release.

At an event organised at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital, the Civil Aviation minister inaugurated the service for the Delhi airport while virtually launching the facility for Varanasi and Bengaluru airports.

“Conceived by DigiYatra Foundation under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the project is aimed to achieve contactless, seamless processing of passengers at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT),” the release stated.

The Union minister said the project envisages a traveller of today, passing through various checkpoints at the airports through paperless and contactless processing using facial features to establish his/her identity which could be linked to the boarding pass.

To use this facility, one-time registration is required to be done on the ‘DigiYatra’ App through an Aadhar-based validation and a self-image capture. “The project has tremendous advantages of improving passenger convenience and ease of travel,” the Civil Aviation Minister said.

During the launch of the service at the Varanasi airport, Airport Director Aryama Sanyal personally welcomed and greeted the first passenger who availed the new facility. He was travelling to Delhi by an IndiGo Airlines flight.

Passengers can download the app on Android and iOS platforms and register with their ID and image on their phones. While travelling through the airport, the system will recognise the passenger by capturing his face and he will be allowed to enter without showing any document.

The service is presently being launched for domestic flight passengers only and is voluntary in nature, the release further stated.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to launch the ‘DigiYatra’ service at three more of its Airports — in Pune, Vijayawada and Kolkata in the next phase by March 2023. (ANI)