Pune Airport

Passengers flying from major Indian airports will have to take out their wallets, mobile phones, chargers and other electronic items from carry-on bags for separate screening.

Till now, only laptops and tablets were required to be kept in separate trays for screening at security but that is no longer the case.

According to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) officials, while scanning handbags, the screen shows a lot of clutter inside it. This causes a lot of difficulty to the security personnel since they are not sure what is inside the bags.

In fact, in the past few days, security personnel have had to check oddly sized pens after cases of knives inside them had been reported. Also, people with gun licenses often bring bullets with them which has to be checked and removed manually.

The security personnel has to request the passenger to remove all electronic items if the security screen is not clear and if there is too much doubt, bags have to be checked manually, which slows down the processing time, leading to long queues.

The decision to remove all electronic items and wallets has been taken to speed up the handbag screening process without affecting the quality of checks.

The CISF will go ‘back to basics’, where they are going to put up a board at Pre-Embarkation Security Check (PESC) points reminding passengers to remove anything not allowed in aircraft that they may have forgotten by mistake in their handbags like scissors or knives.

Congestion at PESC is a major concern as most Indian airports since they have not added adequate infrastructure to support the 20 % growth in air passenger traffic in the past 4 years.

Since expanding existing terminals and building new airports takes years, aviation authorities are trying to incorporate technology to help Indian airports manage the growing traffic.

Airports Authority Of India(AAI) is looking into getting 3D luggage scanners which are currently being tested at the New York JFK and London Heathrow Airport. They don’t require passengers to take out laptops and other electronic items from the bags.

Kolkata airport handles about 50000 passengers a day. With flights scheduled between 6 AM and midnight, around 2,700 persons either arrive at or depart from the airport per hour. Luggage trolley is the first thing that a passenger looks for at the airport.

In a bid to provide better services to passengers during the upcoming festive season, Kolkata Airport has got a set of 600 new baggage trolleys at the airport.

The new baggage trolleys will help the airport manage the passenger rush at the airport during the Durga Puja and other upcoming festivals.

According to airport officials, the new consignment is part of a 4000 trolley-supply deal with a Mumbai based firms, Delite Systems Engineering Pvt Ltd.

Till now the company has supplied 3100 new trolleys, including the 600 which Kolkata Airport received on Saturday. The rest of the trolleys are expected to arrive by the end of 2018.

Here are a few salient features of the new trolleys –

• It has a rear wheel cover to prevent apparel such as “Dupattas” or longs scarves getting tangled in them.
• It is lighter than the previous trolleys
• It has a lower luggage platform which will increase the load capacity and make it more spacious
• Front wheels are designed in the shape of an aircraft’s nosewheel, making it agile and easy to move.
• Overall, it has a better design as compared to the old trolleys

At Kolkata airport, finding a trolley has been a problem, especially during busy hours or late at night. On top of that, Passengers have had to deal with poor customer service at the airport because of which the airport rankings have gone down.

Hopefully, with such initiatives, the passenger experience will improve, and the ratings of the Kolkata airport will go up. This move will also help the airport management to streamline the trolley system making it easier and smoother for them to handle.

In a bid to cater to the increasing tourism in Goa, authorities will soon open a second international airport in Mopa, which is located in the north side of the state.

The upcoming Mopa Airport will be a greenfield airport and will have a capacity to handle around 30 million passengers in a year.

The airport will be built in 4 phases and will handle both passengers and cargo. In a letter to MLA Nilesh Cabral the Chief Minister of Goa, Mr. Manohar Parrikar, has asked to assign Rs 1900 crores for phase 1 of the project.

Phase 1 of the construction will be completed by 2020. Flight operations will commence thereafter and the commencement of phase 2 will start simultaneously.

Passenger capacity will be distributed throughout the four phases of the Mopa Airport, and eventually, by the end of phase 4, it will be able to fly 30 million passengers each year.

According to Mr. Parrikar, the annual passenger handling capacity of Mopa Airport will be 4.4 million in phase 1, 5.8 million phase 2, 9.4 million in phase 3 and 13.1 million in phase 4.

He has also said that the current Dabolim International Airport, which is a military-operated facility, will continue handling civilian aircraft operations even after the commissioning of the new international airport at Mopa.

The new airport will help bring in more tourists to the state, and the Dabolim Airport won’t have to take in too much of the passenger pressure. In 2016, Goa witnessed a 19.5 % growth in tourist footfalls (63.31 lakh tourists) and in 2017, that percentage increased to 22.98 %, with a total footfall of 77.85 lakh tourists.

Goa, being one of the prime tourist locations in India, attracts a massive crowd, especially during the winter months. With the opening of a second airport, travellers will have more options during the tourist season.

In a bid to protect Indian airports from natural disasters, Airports Authority of India (AAI) is conducting the ‘‘Get Airports Ready for Disaster” or GARD programme in the country.

GARD is a joint initiative between Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This initiative is aimed at preparing airports to chalk out a plan to resist any kind of natural disaster. The pilot project of this initiative is being conducted at the Calicut International Airport in Kozhikode. Operations experts from 15 airports in India are attending this 5-day session, which started on Monday.

The GARD project ensures that the airport management is prepared to handle emergency situations such as failure of electricity/fuel supply, passenger/flight operations and security measures which often takes place during a natural disaster.

The experts will learn how to evaluate the current level of preparedness at airports, conduct training exercises, and develop an action plan to ensure that airports are prepared for natural disasters in the future. Till now, the GARD training programme has been conducted in 40 countries.

According to DPDHL’s Director of Humanitarian Efforts, Chris Weeks, this is the first time the GARD programme is being conducted at a global level to train airport operators in countries which are above the average risk for natural disasters.

UNDP’s Assistant Country Director, Dr. Preeti Soni, has said that with increased climate change vulnerability, it is essential to improve national capacities and resilience against natural disasters. This can be achieved by training local authorities in special customs & immigration and having a passenger evacuation plan or accommodation within airports for the first 72 hours of an emergency situation.

With heavy rains disrupting day to day flight operations in India, this programme will surely help airport operators manage such situations and make life easier for air travellers.