CHENNAI: The still-raging
Covid-19 pandemic has achieved what the civil aviation ministry and
the Airports Authority of India could not — make flying paperless and contactless at
Chennai airport.
At the airport that is often slow to adapt to technological advancements, use of web check-in and e-boarding pass, elimination of baggage tags have become a norm. And,
passengers are not protesting, more than willing to abide by the rules because of the need to protect themselves.
As part of contactless travel, web check-in, self-printing of
boarding cards and elimination of baggage tags were to be implemented in a phased manner under the
DiGi Yatra scheme which also advocated large-scale use of biometrics in terminals.
As per the plan made in early 2019, DiGi Yatra was to be introduced in private airports first. In Chennai, paperless travel and use of biometrics for check-in and boarding was to be launched after the integrated terminal is completed next year.
Now, flyers are more cautious and AAI plans to install body scanners which will eliminate the need for CISF personnel to frisk passengers.
In a webinar, civil aviation secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said it would have taken 2-3 years to introduce the reforms under normal circumstances. “Covid-19 has hastened it. This has become the new normal.”
An AAI official said that but for Covid-19, people would have been hesitant to use many of the new procedures. “Now, it’s mandatory. This is considered the right time to add more technology related innovations like foolproof contactless security check using body scanners which has raised concerns of privacy, face-recognition cameras, biometrics for check-in and boarding.”
An airline official said DiGi Yatra aimed at creating a database of travellers who would want to use biometrics for seamless completion of procedures inside terminals. “But it looks like the time is ripe to make all that open to all passengers,” he said.
Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) president Deeptha Reddy said the country’s aviation industry could not afford to lag behind when the whole world was moving towards a greener and more efficient form of communication. “Western airports have been paperless for a while but it has taken longer here in India and it’s happened under unfortunate circumstances. Flying has captured a segment in India that may or may not be tech savvy or have access to smart devices. But with the costs of this access being more accessible it seems to be the right time to go paperless,” he said.
AAI has exempted a few segments of passengers like senior citizens from paperless travel. They can use kiosks or counters to take printouts of boarding passes after web check-in in case they cannot show them on their mobile phones. “These exceptions would have become the rule and paperless travel would not have taken off under normal circumstances,” said an airport official.