More manpower, X-ray machines to decongest airports: Scindia

The civil aviation minister also mentioned about an increase in CISF personnel deployed at the joint venture airports.

New Delhi: To tackle congestion at airports, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday said manpower, X-ray machines, departure entry gates, check-in counters and immigration counters have been increased compared to last year.

The number of X-ray Baggage Inspection System (XBIS) has been increased by 33 per cent and at AAI airports by 49 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Among others, the CISF personnel at the joint venture airports have been increased to 19,760 as of December 12 this year. This is a rise of 19 per cent compared to 16,572 personnel on December 12, 2022, the minister said at a briefing.

According to him, the deployment of CISF personnel at Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports has increased to 4,973, a rise of 27 per cent as against 3,915 on December 12, 2022.

The minister said that in spite of domestic passenger traffic crossing 4.67 lakh daily, there were no major reports of congestion in comparison to December 2022 when the traffic was around 4 lakh per day.