Extra flights but no security infrastructure upgrade at airports

NEW DELHI: Frequent flyers have long dreaded serpentine queues for security checks at airports. Now, even Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has raised a red flag at the practice of adding more flights at peak hours without increasing infrastructure or manpower to handle the increased rush.

"Passenger traffic at all airports has increased by 65% in last 5 years... this increase is... abnormally high during peak hours... it varies from 39% increase in Delhi; 132.2% increase in Bengaluru; 89.8% in Kolkata; 48.1% in Ahmedabad; 62.8% in Mumbai and 84% at Lucknow during peak hours. Despite this... security infrastructure and manpower have remained the same, resulting in congestion at security check points and undue pressure on security personnel," CISF says in a report submitted to the Union home and aviation ministries.

Airlines now frequently ask flyers, especially at choked airports like Delhi, to reach at least two hours before departure of flights due to increased rush. While Mumbai airport has no place to expand, plans to expand Delhi's IGIA will only materialise by 2020-21.

CISF has warned that authorities must plan in advance to avoid the kind of crunch that Delhi and Mumbai currently face. "India has witnessed a healthy passenger traffic growth of about 66.2% (10.5 crore) in the last five years. (It) is expected to touch 40 crore in the next five years from the current 26.5 crore. Hence planning for expansion of critical aviation infrastructure is over the next 25-30 years is absolutely vital... (Or) our airports may turn chaotic," the report says.

The "major concern" is that "flights are increasingly being bunched together during peak periods". "This results in long queues and congestion in pre-embarkation security check points," the force says.

CISF, which currently has about 26,000 personnel deployed at 59 airports in India, says it will need 19,072 additional manpower in next five years.