Ashish Karn
Listen the Article:
Recently, passengers had to face a lot of problems at Terminal-3 of Delhi Airport. There were also news related to this in the media. After this the government came into action. Arrangements were increased at the airport. It was decided to deploy 1,400 additional CISF personnel.
For the past several days, there were reports of huge crowd of passengers and chaos at Delhi’s international airport. People had to stand in line for hours to catch a flight. From the main entrance of the airport to check in and security check till boarding the plane was a lot of struggle. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has increased the facilities at the airport after the anger of passengers erupted on social media and media reports on this.
Two days ago where people had to stand in line for one to two hours, now work is being done in 15 minutes. Let us know what changes have been made by the government? What kind of facilities have been increased?
Now the whole process is being completed within 15 minutes.
As on Friday evening, it is now taking hardly 15 to 20 minutes for passengers from entering through the main gate of Terminal-3 of Delhi International Airport till check-in and security check. This is a relief news for the passengers, who were getting upset due to the huge crowd in the past and were expressing their pain on social media. If this system continues in the coming days, then when the pressure of passengers will increase between the holidays from Christmas to New Year, even then such long queues will not be seen on T-3, in which passengers used to take up to two hours.
Have to face the crowd here
The construction work is going on in the Priority Pass lounge inside T-3. Because of this it is closed. Some airlines had sent messages to passengers asking them to reach the airport three-and-a-half hours before, in view of the rush. Meanwhile, the waiting time of the passengers has reduced due to the improvement of the arrangements. Because of this, long queues are no longer visible at check-in and security check, but more crowd is visible at the food plaza.
There can be traffic jams to reach the airport
There is currently a traffic jam outside the airport. People are taking half an hour to a quarter of an hour to travel the distance from Rao Tula Ram Marg to the airport, especially during evening peak hours.
What other steps did the government take?
To understand this, we talked to an officer of the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He told that after Corona, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of domestic passengers. Because of this people are facing these problems. These problems are temporary only. Soon the situation will become normal. He further told about the points through which better facilities are being provided to the passengers gathering at Terminal-3 of Delhi Airport.
1. Display boards at all entry gates
The number of display boards at all gates and departure gates of the airport has been increased. Through this, passengers are being told that how much time it may take to leave from which gate. According to the display board at the entry gate of T-3 at around 4 pm on Friday, people are taking one to five minutes to enter the airport.
2. Number of airline staff and security personnel increased
On the orders of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, all the airline companies have increased the airport staff. The counters have also been increased. Apart from this, the number of security personnel has also been increased. An additional force of 1,400 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force is being deployed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport soon.
3. Crowd management counter meter installed
Through this the officers are continuously monitoring. Wherever there is a need for staff or security personnel, additional deployment is being done. Additional CCTVs have also been installed for this and officers have also been deployed at the command center.
4. Number of X-ray machines increased
The number of X-ray machines has also been increased to check the luggage of passengers at the airport. Five new X-ray machines have been installed in the security check area within nine days. Now there are 18 ATRS and X-ray machines at Terminal-3.
5. DigiTra started at Terminal-3
In view of the increasing crowd at Terminal-3 of Delhi Airport, the government has started the DigiTra process. In this, passengers are being identified through facial biometric. This is a mobile app. Passengers will have to download it on their mobile and complete the verification. With the help of this app, entry of passengers will be done at all the check points on the basis of facial recognition. Airport entry, security check and boarding gate will be done from the app at all the three places.
In the Digiatra app, there will be verification through Aadhaar and the passenger will also have to take his photograph. At the airport’s e-gate, the passenger will first have to scan the bar-coded boarding pass. After this, the ‘facial recognition’ system installed there will verify the identity of the passenger and the travel document. After this process, passengers will be able to go inside the airport through the e-gate.
Verification through Aadhaar in the DigiTra app will have to be done only once. After this, whenever you travel, you will have to upload your ticket on the app after web check-in. After arriving at the airport, you will need to place your ticket on the scanner. Where your face will be scanned. After this you will be entered.
Know why suddenly the crowd started gathering at the airport?
To understand this, we spoke to PS Sawant, a retired officer of the Airport Authority of India. He said, ‘There was a situation of a standstill inside the whole world during the Corona period. Only those people were traveling, who were in dire need. Now things are slowly changing. At present, there are two major reasons for the increase in domestic passengers – the reduction of fear of Corona and increase in tourism.
1. Fear of Corona reduced
From March 2020, all types of flights were affected due to Corona. People were starting to feel in danger while traveling by plane. The number of flights had also reduced. Now the fear of corona has reduced among the people. Till December last year, people were troubled by the third wave of Corona. There has been a decrease in corona cases this year. This is the reason why people have started moving out in a big way now. The number of flights has also started increasing.
2. Increase in tourism
The last month of the year is going on. In such a situation, most of the people go for vacations. Due to this, the number of passengers at the airports has increased. The number of domestic flights has also increased significantly. Its maximum effect is seen at airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata. These are the major airports of the country and from here domestic and international flights are filled for every region. Apart from this, there are many hill stations near these airports. Now the passenger fare has also started coming down considerably.
Been here from last 30 minutes and still not halfway through the security check line on T3, @DelhiAirport
What is going on?@AAI_Official help please 🙏
#help #airports #waiting pic.twitter.com/p8JLBmqYTz— Riya Bhatia (@riyatennis) December 8, 2022
Passengers increased faster than last year
If you look at the statistics, last year i.e. from January 2021 to September 2021, a total of more than 5.31 crore domestic passengers traveled by air. This year the figures have increased by 64.11 percent. A total of more than 8.74 crore domestic passengers have flown from January to September this year.
4 lakh passengers everyday
There are a total of 174 airports, heliports and waterdromes in the country, where different types of aircraft and helicopters operate. Most of these are airports from where domestic and international flights operate. Due to Corona, there was a significant decrease in the number of flights from March 2020 to March this year. However, gradually it started increasing.
If you look at the statistics this year till November 25, two to three and a half lakh domestic passengers used to fly at these airports every day, while about one to two lakh international flights were used to fly. But after that it picked up pace. On November 27, Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted and informed that for the second time in the year 2022, on November 26, the number of domestic passengers has reached more than four lakhs.
After this, on 27 and 28 November also, the number of domestic passengers was more than four lakh. At the same time, the number of overall passengers was around eight lakh. From December 2 till now, the number of domestic passengers has been between four and a half lakh to 4.5 lakh everyday. It is increasing continuously. Maximum congestion has increased at Terminal-3 of Delhi Airport. This is because most of the domestic flights take place from here.
