Amid complaints of fliers missing flights due to long queues, authorities on Monday put in place an action plan in Delhi airport to address airport congestion, which includes reducing the number of flights during rush hours in the morning and moving some flights from its Terminal-3 (T3).
The latest measures, which also includes real-time updates on waiting time on social media, came after Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inspected the arrangements at T3 earlier in the day.
Scindia said the authorities have increased the number of entry gates from 14 to 16. The measures taken would help ease the congestion. He also said they have studied what are the bottlenecks and the CISF will provide adequate staff to ensure safety and security of the installation.
Officials said Scindia Monday morning made a "surprise visit" and inspected all areas and interacted with airport staff to understand the problems and take their suggestions before ordering the implementation of measures.
A command centre will monitor crowding at the gates on a real-time basis while crowd managers and usherers will guide travellers. Airlines will be intimated about the number of people waiting so that check-in desks could be made congestion-free.
The authorities will reduce the number of flights between 5 AM and 9 AM while working on a plan to move some flights from T3 to Terminal-1 and Terminal-2 or to non-peak hours at T3.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi with three terminals is one of the busiest airports in the country and handles around 1.90 lakh passengers and about 1,200 flights daily.
Additional ATRS (Automatic Tray Retrieval System) machines for baggage check will be deployed to help reduce the congestion. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ATRS machines were 13 and it has now been increased to 16 and it will be further increased to 17 immediately and 20 in a few days.
Additional manpower will be deployed at immigration counters after an analysis of requirements. Airlines have been asked to keep their counters completely manned, officials said.
Other measures include digital display boards showing waiting time at each entry gate and at least one waiting time board at the terminal checkpoint.