Mumbai airports take measures to tackle rising passenger footfalls

Mumbai: The operator of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) on Monday said it has taken a slew of initiatives, including introduction of a passenger footfall monitoring mechanism, to tackle congestion at the facility.

Some of the airports such as GMR Group-run Delhi International Airport have been witnessing congestion, particularly during the peak hours amid surging passenger traffic.

A number of affected passengers have taken to social media to complain about serpentine queues at the airlines' check-in counters, security check points and even at the airport entry gates.

Data from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) suggest passenger volume from four key metro airports -- Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru -- spiked 120 per cent to 8.71 crore in the April-October period of the current fiscal as compared to 3.95 crore passengers in the same period last financial year.

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CSMIA has augmented its manpower resources with the inclusion of 'passenger service executives' complemented with infrastructural facilities to meet passenger expectations, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) said in a statement.

The private airport operator also claimed that post-pandemic single-day traffic at the facility reached 1,50,988 passengers on December 10, which was the third-highest single-day passenger movement for the facility.

The highest-ever single day passenger volume for the airport has been at 1,56,329, recorded on December 21, 2018, it said.

Besides introducing a digital tool, passenger flow and queue monitoring system have been put in place to closely monitor passenger footfalls in security processing zone, it said.

On ground, terminal operations teams are being deployed at pre-security checks for the fast segregation of restricted articles to reduce the rejection rates at automated tray retrieval systems (ATRs).

Also, staff deployed at the end of the ATR machines ensures quick turnaround for security trays while terminal duty managers are present at security checks for managing the queues and to prioritize senior citizens and passengers with child in arm in coordination with CISF, it stated.

MIAL said it also coordinates on ground for queue management and resource mobilisation at the immigration and customs, which come under the central government.

Terminal operations teams are deployed at the immigration hall to guide the passengers to designated counters, while customer service executives have been deployed at the curbside for proactive passenger assistance, managing queues at the entry gates and assisting persons with reduced mobility.

Such teams are also deployed at self baggage drop kiosks and CUSS (Common Use Self Service) check-in kiosks to decongest the traditional check in counters, MIAL said and added that in the event of sudden passenger surge, the flyers are prioritised as per departure timings.