India boosts facilities at Delhi airport to ease year-end travel congestion

Like in other countries, air travel in India has picked up as Covid-19 restrictions have eased

A surge in travel that overwhelmed the country’s busiest airport this week as the holiday season sets in has eased after authorities added staff and security equipment to cope with the surge in travellers. 

Passengers queued for hours to pass through check-in and security at the main domestic and international terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, leading to some flight delays. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said more X-ray machines and staff were added to Terminal 3. 

A video on Thursday showed passengers checking-in smoothly at the airport. He said additional measures were also being taken at other airports, including those in the western city of Mumbai and Bengaluru in the south. 

“In the last 24 to 36 hours, all agencies have swung into action to mitigate congestion at every checkpoint at all major airports. Congestion at entry points and check-in counters at T3 has eased,” Scindia said in a post on LinkedIn. 

Indian infrastructure conglomerate GMR Group, which leads a conglomerate that owns and operates the airport, did not respond to a request for comment. 

Parliamentary panel DIAL over crowding 

Members of a Parliamentary panel on Thursday questioned officials of Delhi airport operator DIAL about congestion at the airport and they assured the committee that the issues will be resolved by the end of this month.

The department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture chaired by YSR Congress Party leader Vijayasai Reddy was briefed by representatives of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) about various issues, including congestion, at the airport, according to sources. 

The meeting was attended by DIAL Deputy MD K Narayanarao and others. "We are working with the government (to deal with congestion). We have been increasing the number of screening machines at the airport. Everything will be resolved by the end of this month," Rao told reporters after the meeting with the panel.

He also said there was no conflict between private security guards and CISF personnel. The civil aviation ministry and other stakeholders have taken various measures to deal with the situation.

AI Mumbai-San Francisco flight flagged off; services to NY, Paris, Frankfurt in ’23 
 

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday inaugurated Air India's direct flight between Mumbai and San Francisco. 

The flight will be operated thrice a week. Currently, Air India operates services from Mumbai to Newark. After San Francisco, the airline plans to connect Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt next year. 

After inaugurating the flight, Scindia said the country's civil aviation sector is on the cusp of transformation and boom. On December 2, the airline had started its three times a week flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco.

PTI