Enhancing the Passenger Journey at Indian Airports

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on India to improve on passenger facilitation and security processes in order to accommodate the anticipated passenger traffic through India’s airports.

“India expects to handle 1 billion passengers by 2040. As infrastructure capacity expansion is unlikely to keep up with the speed of traffic growth, improving processes should be considered a primary solution to cope with the growth in demand,” said Amitabh Khosla, IATA’s Country Director for India, Nepal and Bhutan.

In its recently released policy paper on Aviation Facilitation and Security Priorities for Enhancing the Passenger Journey at Airports in India, IATA identified six priority areas to be addressed:

• Remove stamping at security and immigration and allow Mobile Boarding Pass (MBP)
• Support off-airport self-tagging options, such as Home Printed Bag Tag (HPBT) and Electronic Bag Tag (EBT)
• Adopt automation in border control process, for both departure and arrival
• Adhere to global standards for Advance Passenger Information (API) transmission
• Adopt risk-based outcome-focused approach to aviation security
• Relocate hand luggage screening (for international arrivals) and adopt risk-based approach instead of 100% screening

“The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s (MOCA) DigiYatra initiative is a significant step in the right direction. It is fully aligned with IATA’s One ID concept, which enables a biometric single token process supported by integrated identity management throughout the passenger journey. We urge the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs to implement the proposals highlighted in the position paper. By adopting global standards and best practices, while embracing new technologies and innovation in airport processes, India will be better able to handle the expected traffic growth and meet the passenger experience expectations,” said Khosla.