In what might come as a relief for air passengers flying out of the national capital, the situation at the Terminal 3 of Delhi International Airport has improved with smooth passenger movement and an average waiting time of up to 5 minutes at all terminal entry gates, as per the airport authorities.
“Smooth passenger movement observed at all terminal entry gates with an average waiting time of 0-5 minutes. Smart Travel Tip: For a Significantly faster experience at every touch point, we recommend domestic passengers to use #DigiYatra,” the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) tweeted.
The airport also advised the passengers to carry limited luggage for faster security clearance. “For a smoother and faster security clearance, passenger shall carry only one hand baggage as their cabin luggage,” the Delhi airport said. The airport has been putting periodical updates on the passenger movement on social media.
The development comes a day after the ministry of civil aviation issued a slew of guidelines to the airport to manage the serpentine queues and congestion.
The aviation ministry said that necessary actions have been taken for boarding of passengers at checkpoints, entry gates and smooth transit of passengers.
The ministry said in a Twitter thread, “In order to curb congestion and waiting time at @DelhiAirport, necessary actions have been taken which have resulted in least wait time for boarding at checkpoints, entry gates and smooth transit of passengers. Display boards have been installed at all departure entry gates of the airport, which provides real-time data and is being shared via social media. “
The ministry said that the domestic security has been increased with six personnel evenly distributed on all gates. In order to manage the crowd at the airport, count meter has been deployed. Additional CCTV and Command Centre has also been installed at the airport. The airport has added additional four x-ray machines for the baggage check.
On Tuesday, the ministry of civil aviation rapped major domestic airports for unmanned check-in counters. In a statement, the ministry said, “It has come to the notice of the Ministry of Civil Aviation that the airline check-in counters at certain airports are found unmanned or inadequately manned during early morning hours leading to congestion at the Airports, thereby causing inconvenience to the passengers.”
The ministry also advised the airlines to deploy sufficient manpower to avoid congestion and ensure smooth passenger movement. The minister also advised the airlines to place the real time data on social media. “Scheduled airlines are therefore advised to deploy sufficient manpower at all check-in/baggage-drop counters well in advance to ensure de-congestion and smooth flow of passengers at airports,” the ministry said.
“Besides the above, Airlines are requested to place Real Time Data on their Social Media feeds regarding waiting time at respective Airports’ entry gate,” it added.
Hailing the Delhi airport, Sanjiv Kapoor, the chief executive officer of Jet Airways tweeted, “Kudos to @DelhiAirport- they seem to have fixed the T3 terminal entry waiting times even at peak hours. Entry time 0-5 minutes at all entrances at all times yesterday and into this morning. No 15-30 min wait times at any time anymore.”
On Tuesday, the country’s largest airline IndiGo requested domestic passengers to reach the airport at least 3.5 hours prior to their flight departure. The budget carrier also asked flyers to carry only 1 piece of hand baggage weighing 7 kilograms for a smooth security check. This comes a day after the Union minister of civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday visited the Delhi airport and met the officials amidst a sudden surge in the complaints of chaos and congestion at terminal 3.
While the situation at the Delhi airport has been improving, the situation at the Bengaluru airport has worsened. Several passengers took to social media complaining of the mismanagement and long waiting hours for check-in at the airport’s immigration counter. Prashant Dayal, a passenger tweeted on December 12, “Terrible immigration queues at the Bengaluru International airport. Disastrous management and completely unapologetic behavior. Are we really moving forward? @BLRAirport Why...oh why have so many flights when there is no capacity and ability to manage the show? 1 hour+...”