Air traffic peaks in December; congestion at major airports as authorities struggle to manage chaos

(Reuters file image)

December has seen over 4 lakh daily passengers nearly every day, half of whom fly through Delhi. Given the sudden and sustained rush, the airport is clearly struggling to get on top of the situation. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is holding discussions with domestic airlines ways to address overall congestion at Delhi airport, including the possibility of reducing the number of flights operated during peak hours, according to officials.

Congestion at major airports such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru has been an issue for the past few days. "We are going through the peak season. The fact is that pre-Covid, our highest domestic passenger numbers were roughly about 407,000 a day, and we crested that on Monday (December 5) and reached 413,000. So, there is a huge desire among people to fly. Having said that, it does lead to a situation you described as congestion," Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation told Business Standard.

Besides, dedicated people have been deployed at the entry gates to help passengers. The officials said an additional X-ray machine has been installed at T3 domestic and more manpower has been deployed in the ATRS (Automatic Tray Retrieval System) area to help passengers with tray preparation and congestion management. Awareness posters have also been put at the entry gates to make sure that passengers are ready with boarding cards.

Meanwhile, according to a Business Standard report, the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) said, “With the revival of air traffic, CSMIA has seen rise in passenger traffic…. (We have) augmented manpower with the inclusion of ‘passenger service executives’ complemented with infrastructural facilities to meet passenger expectations and consistently deliver exemplary service standards.”

Some of the steps being taken to manage the rush at the airport include the implementation of a ‘passenger flow and queue monitoring system’ and deploying personnel at pre-security check for removing restricted articles to reduce rejection rates at automated tray retrieval system.

Further, the MIAL is engaged in active on-ground coordination for queue management and resource mobilisation, it said on security, customs and immigration. "In the event of sudden surge, passengers are prioritised as per departure timings," the authority noted.

After the Omicron variant of COVID-19, December 5 saw the highest number of domestic passengers at 413,716, as per a Times of India report. The previous highs were on November 26 – 405,963 and November 27 – 409,831.

On December 1, the Indian government launched DigiYatra, which allows entry of air passengers based on a facial recognition system at three airports — Delhi, Bangalore and Varanasi.

With DigiYatra, it will be a paperless entry for passengers at airports and the passenger data can be automatically processed based on a facial recognition system at various checkpoints, including at security check areas.

For availing the service, a passenger has to register their details on the DigiYatra app using Aadhaar-based validation and a self-image capture.