BCAS orders additional check at airports amid rising India-Pak tensions

As tensions continue to escalate between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Thursday directed all airlines to conduct Secondary Ladder Point Checks (SLPC) at all airports across the country, Business Standard has learnt.

 

SLPC is a security procedure in which airline staff carry out an additional screening of passengers and their hand baggage just before boarding the aircraft, following the primary security check by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). This secondary check is typically conducted near the boarding gate or at the ladder/aerobridge.

 

A government official told the newspaper that the BCAS informed airport operators and airlines on Thursday that the SLPC must be implemented across the country. 

 

An airport official confirmed the development, adding that the airport operator's own staff could assist airline personnel during SLPC. As the situation between the two countries is "sensitive", personnel from the CISF may also support the airline and airport staff in carrying out the second security check, he added.

 

Indian armed forces on Wednesday conducted Operation Sindoor, which targeted multiple terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir.

 

At least 16 airports across northern and western India were shut on Wednesday. They will remain closed till the morning of May 10. This shutdown has resulted in the cancellation of around 850 passenger flights. 

 

The affected airports -- shut until 5.29 am on May 10 -- include Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh, Rajkot, Bikaner, Dharamshala, Gwalior, Kishangarh, Rajkot, Shimla, and Hindon, according to statements from Indian carriers.