The physical stamping of boarding passes would be done away with at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here from August onwards, a spokesperson for the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said. The facility will start at the T-2 terminal for GoAir passengers in the first week of next month and be introduced for other airlines subsequently, the spokesperson said.
A passenger only has to flash his boarding pass at a scanner machine placed at the security area for frisking. CISF personnel will give a ‘go-ahead’ command through a terminal placed at his end before frisking the passenger, said officials involved in its implementation.
“It will subsequently be rolled out to other airlines at the Airport as well. This will start at a few gates at T2, and be expanded to all the gates gradually,” the spokesperson said. A senior CISF official said a person who uses the new system would be frisked and checked if the security person on duty finds them suspicious. The final call on the security clearance of a passenger rests with on-duty security personnel.
DIAL described it as a first phase of the launch of the e-boarding facility. The e-boarding facility will help domestic air passengers enjoy a complete paperless boarding experience at airports. It would cover all boarding processes right from entry into the terminal building, check-ins, security checks, boarding gate and boarding bridge check before entering the aircraft.
All that a passenger would need is a mobile e-boarding card. The e-boarding facility is being piloted under the ‘digi-yatra’ initiative of the government. Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey had earlier said that once the digi-yatra facility is in place, passengers can enter the airport via an e-gate after a face-based identification process. The system, he said, will be a win-win situation both for the passengers, the security apparatus and the airlines. The system will ensure shorter queue, faster boarding, self baggage drop and self check-in.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) had recently asked airports in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to do away with the boarding pass stamping. This would not only help passengers save time but also reduce the queue. The manpower employed to manage the operations could also be used for other purposes.