Kolkata Airport

For the convenience of flyers, an inline baggage scanning system is finally being installed in the domestic section of Kolkata Airport.

This will end a wait of more than five years for a passenger amenity that is meant to be a basic feature of any modern airport terminal.

Work on this started last week, in check-in portal C of the terminal’s domestic area and will be extended to the remaining ones over the next couple of months. Airport officials said it would take about 15 days on an average to complete the installation in each portal.

Of the eight check-in portals within the terminal, five are assigned for domestic operations.

A separate inline baggage scanning system would be set up for out-of-gauge luggage, according to officials. The international section of the terminal, which already offers inline baggage scanning, will be upgraded to the new system.

Once the inline baggage screening system becomes operational, passengers using the domestic section need not queue up separately at X-ray kiosks to get their bags scanned before check-in.

In an automated system, a bag deposited at the check-in counter goes through X-ray machines on a conveyor belt. The belts are fitted with cameras and sensors that create images of the luggage with a barcode. The luggage is screened in a control room manned by trained personnel.

The out-of-gauge belt will ease the check-in hassles of passengers carrying golf clubs or other cargo that does not fit in the conveyor belt. Currently, any such item carried by a passenger has to be scanned and then carried to the baggage make-up area before it is sent to the aircraft.

The installation was to be completed by June but a delay in the arrival of equipment imported from the US forced a change in schedule.

Domestic airlines operating to and from Kolkata requested the airport authorities to start the process after Diwali to avoid chaos during the peak of holiday traffic.

Airport officials said work started in the domestic section first because the number of passengers it handles is far more compared to the international traffic.

If you are planning to fly from Delhi Airport anytime soon, be prepared for flight delays.

Due to runway repairs at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, flight operations at the airport are likely to be affected for a week i.e., from November 16 to November 23, 2018.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that runway 27/09 will be closed for preventive repairs and maintenance for a week from Friday onwards.

According to a DIAL official, the closing of the runway during this period could reduce the capacity of the airport by 50 arrivals as well as 50 departures per day.

The official also said that the work being carried out had been planned in advance and is a routine activity to ensure safe aircraft operations.

Initially, a 13-day runway closure was announced by the airport in October. However, the airport operator said that the period has been reduced in order to ensure minimal disturbances take place in the functioning of the airport.

Different Airlines have said that flight have been adjusted and cancelled in advance following this so that passengers don’t face any inconvenience however, they have also said that there may be slight flight delays.

According to RK Jenamani, Meteorological Head at the IGI airport, the national capital is witnessing a shallow fog during the day, however, flight operations are unlikely to be affected by fog during this period.

He said that the airport is only likely to see dense fog next month and cancellations start occurring around December 15.

Interestingly, a fourth runway is being introduced at the Delhi Airport. The runway is likely to be completed by 2022, making the airport, the first one in the country with four runways.

Flight delays and mid-air holding of flights because of congestion of airplanes on the ground have reduced at Kolkata Airport, thanks to a new common information-sharing platform.

This platform enables the airport operator, airlines and other agencies to process information accurately and take immediate, more precise decisions saving time for flyers, fuel for airlines and reducing carbon emissions.

The Airport-Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) system also enables flyers to get accurate information on arrival times of their flights.

A-CDM is currently active at 25 airports across Europe and Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in India.

Here are a few benefits of the new A-CDM system:

• Overall improvement in the efficiency of airport operations.
• Orderly flow of air traffic.
• Optimization of airport and airspace capacity
• Reduction in carbon emission and pollution, due to the saving of fuel
• Predictability of delays and swift distribution of information to all partners.

Here’s an example of how the system will work:

• If an incoming flight is delayed by eight minutes, A-CDM will accurately predict the aircraft’s coordinates.
• Also, if there is a 20-minute airplane congestion predicted over Delhi, then the flight taking off for Delhi will be delayed by 20 minuets so that it does not have to hover on reaching there.
• Accordingly, this information will be shared with all stakeholders including passengers.

With this system airport operators will be able to know exactly where a delay is happening, whether it is in the baggage breakup area, in customs or immigration and will help in fixing the delay point and make the airport more efficient.