Delhi airport establishes special enclosures for fog-affected passengers

The Delhi airport is establishing special enclosures at its terminals to accommodate passengers stuck in aircraft for more than three hours. The delay could be due to fog, other weather conditions, or technical issues, its operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) stated on Monday.

 

A few months back, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) significantly eased the regulations regarding deboarding of such passengers at the terminals.

 

According to the older regulations, such passengers, if deboarded, were to be taken to the arrival area and undergo a lengthy security process before being brought to the boarding gate. Since the procedure took almost 2.5 hours, the airlines refrained from deboarding their passengers even if they were stuck in the plane for hours.

 

"To alleviate passenger discomfort, the government has relaxed security protocols, allowing passengers of flights delayed by over three hours or canceled due to fog/weather or technical issues to disembark and return to the terminal," the GMR Group-led DIAL mentioned.

 

The operator stated that it is establishing special enclosures at all three terminals for processing of these passengers to allow them back inside the terminal.

 

"Bringing such passengers directly to the reverse entry point significantly reduces the time taken in the deboarding and boarding from approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes to just a few minutes," it mentioned.

 

"These enclosures will be located at the bus boarding gates and certain aerobridges in Terminal 3, the transfer area in Terminal 2, and the bus boarding gates in Terminal 1. The facilities will serve both domestic and international passengers," it noted.

 

Ranging from 250 to 450 square meters, these enclosures will be able to hold between 55 and 120 passengers at a time. They are intended to facilitate security screening, allowing passengers to smoothly re-enter the terminal's security hold area (SHA).

 

"DIAL is also working to provide essential amenities, like toilets and vending machines within the enclosures, wherever feasible. The enclosures would only be utilised as a security processing area after which the passengers would enter the SHA which would give the passengers access to all the facilities available there," it mentioned.

 

For security reasons, just the airline staff escorting passengers from stranded flights would be permitted to enter the enclosures.

 

"To maintain safety and security, CISF personnel will be stationed in the enclosures to screen passengers returning from delayed or stranded flights before they are allowed to join other screened passengers in the SHA. Additionally, personnel from the Private Security Agency (PSA) will verify the documents of passengers affected by the fog/weather or technical issues," it mentioned.