Just days after the infamous Delhi Airport chaos got out of hand, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia has resorted to action. After addressing the staff at Terminal 3 (T3) of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, Scindia has shared an action plan to mitigate the overall congestion at airports of the country, including Mumbai Airport and Bengaluru Airport.
According to a LinkedIn post shared by Scindia, the congestion at entry points and check-in counters at Delhi Airport’s T3 has relatively eased. Emphasising on the action taken by several agencies to mitigate Delhi Airport congestion, the minister shares, “4 additional X-Ray machines have been added at the Security Hold Area; display boards showing wait time have come up. Deployment of CISF manpower has already kick-started, and will progressively increase in the next few days.”
Since travellers have been complaining about some congestion at Mumbai and Bengaluru airports as well, Scindia adds, “These steps will be emulated at the Bengaluru and Mumbai airports as well. At BIAL, two additional X-RAY machines have been operationalised today.”
Over the last couple of weeks, Delhi Airport’s congestion has made headlines as several passengers flooded social media with repeated complaints of them facing problems. From long queues to sometimes, people even missing their flights – travellers have shared their tales of chaos. Now, with the holiday and festival season, air traffic is bound to only get heavier and possibly result in more chaos at the airports.
Elaborating on the elevated levels of domestic passenger traffic, Scindia said, “It is heartening to see domestic passenger traffic surpass pre-COVID levels, clocking a new record each day. The load factors have touched 95% +. Indeed, airport operators, airlines, ground handlers, ATCOs, immigration, security – the entire circuit is fortunate to be operating at such a time, and only wishes to see this trajectory move onwards and upwards.”
Since India is the third largest aviation market, there is a constant need to improve capacity on several fronts in order to accommodate the surging traffic and demands of consumers. For this, as per Scindia, “A strong Rs 98000-crore capex for airports is in the pipeline.” While the minister didn’t share the nuances of this projected capital expenditure, more updates on this for the Indian Aviation industry are expected in the coming days.
