New Delhi, May 19, 2020: Once operations resume, wait to board a flight at the city airport is likely to be longer than the flying time itself for most passengers.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) and ministry of civil aviation have suggested that domestic passengers reach the airport two to three hours before departure to avoid delays caused by social distancing restrictions, but officials who have checked how the systems work believe it may take up to four hours. Check in counters will close almost an hour before departure.
The longest domestic flight from Chennai, to Delhi, takes two hours and forty-five minutes.
In addition to social distancing norms, AAI is planning to try used camerabased systems to check tickets and IDs at the entry gates of terminals.
A senior official said, “Passengers who walk up to the terminal gate will have to show his ticket and ID card before a camera.
Then they have to look into the camera. A CISF personnel seated faraway in a kiosk will cross-check the documents through a monitor and allow entry. An armed CISF personnel will stand near the entry gate for protection but will not come close to the passengers.”
Trials runs of the new procedures for check-ins have begun at the airport, to find out whether all checks will work smoothly with social distancing norms in place.
“We do not want to put CISF personnel at the risk of infection because they often come into close contact with passengers during checks. Those who frisk will use full PPE or wear a protective cape,” he added.
Authorities think the new system for entry checks and check-in counter queues where passengers will have to stand afar and speak to airline staff, will slow down the check-in experience of passengers.
Air Passengers Association of India national president D Sudhakara Reddy said, “The experience of flying will be different acccording to the reports published in indiatimes.com.
People will have to come earlier than usual to the terminal as the new guidelines are needed to ensure safety. But a few of the procedures needs to be fine tuned”.
