Relief for international passengers at Chennai airport as free WiFi to soon be available

In what could be a big relief, international air passengers arriving in the city will be able to access free wifi at Chennai airport a tad bit more easily in a couple of months.

For years now, it has been a rather frustrating experience for international air passengers as many haven’t been able to use the free wifi. This is because several international air passengers who fly down to the city cannot receive the one-time password and without it, they can’t access free wifi.

Officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI), since they have been receiving repeated requests and complaints from passengers for quite some time now regarding free wifi, have decided to implement this facility. Since the government of India mandates KYC is a necessity, OTP had to be sent to the user’s mobile number. “But we understand the concerns and we plan to set up a few kiosks in the international arrival hall. When a passenger scans his passport and his boarding pass, he will receive the OTP in a paper slip from the kiosk and can use free wifi,” an official said. AAI is in talks with telecom operators in this regard. In five months, the kiosks will be installed, he added.

Vasanthi Kannan, a frequent traveller, said, “This is a welcome move. Both my children live abroad and whenever they come here, they certainly felt the need for wifi facility on arrival. This is because most international travellers require it to book a cab or inform their kith and kin they have arrived or for any other assistance.”

Air passengers have also flagged this concern on the ‘X’ platform on multiple occasions.

Recently, one of the passengers, Surya D. Asokan posted: “@aaichnairport big miss on airport WiFi. Not sure how this could’ve been overlooked. Lot of international travellers don’t have in-service mobile # to receive OTP. Need for an OTP can be replaced by boarding pass/ticket info if there is a need for this restriction.”

Another passenger Gopinath S posted: “Why is there no Free WiFi service in Chennai Airport? None of the free wifi provided by @vodafone is not working and couldn’t connect.@AAI_Official It is very difficult to communicate when international passengers arrive/depart. All other international airports has it.”