AAI receives clearance: Full-body scanners set to upgrade airport security

Airport

As part of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security's (BCAS) mandate to replace door frame metal detectors (DFMD) with full-body scanners at hypersensitive and sensitive airports in India, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will install full-body scanners at four airports in the country, including Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, and Goa.

BCAS had ordered all hypersensitive and sensitive airports to replace door frame metal detectors (DFMD) with full-body scanners by March 2022, back in November 2021. However, the process of acquiring these scanners got delayed by more than a year, and on September 13, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) finally received clearance from the Public Investment Board (PIB) to install full-body scanners at these four airports.

The full-body scanners will now be installed at the four identified airports, with Kolkata receiving 13 scanners, Chennai receiving 12, Goa receiving eight, and Pune receiving five.

In July, the government floated a tender to procure 131 full-body scanners as part of this ambitious initiative, which was estimated to cost over Rs 1,000 crore and was intended for airports managed by AAI. However, the tender was subsequently withdrawn due to the requirement for clearance from the PIB.

BCAS had directed in April 2019 that 84 hypersensitive and sensitive airports should have full-body scanners by March 2020 in place of DFMDs. Other airports were supposed to get scanners by March 2021. In 2019, AAI had issued a tender to purchase 198 body scanners, but the entire process was delayed due to various factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The introduction of body scanners will eliminate the current process of patting down passengers after a primary screening through the walk-through metal detector. Body scanners will allow "clean" passengers to walk through, and frisking will only be necessary for others.

The specifications for scanners to be used in India take into account the need to penetrate layers of clothing unique to the country, such as the chunnat (front fold) of a sari, lungi, and pallus.

These scanners are also expected to reduce the average passenger frisking time from the current 30 seconds to just 15 seconds. Additionally, 600 new hand baggage scanners will be introduced.

Since all investment plans with an estimated cost of Rs 500 crores and more fall under the purview of PIB, the initial proposal aimed to install 131 full-body scanners and 600 new hand-baggage scanner machines at 43 airports, including Amritsar, Goa, Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Varanasi, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Raipur, Tirupati, Bhopal, and others, totalling over Rs 1,000 crore for airports run by AAI.