With plans for e-clearance immigration gates in place, the immigration queues at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at New Delhi are set to get a lot shorter, the Economic Times reported.
The technology has been adopted at several airports abroad and will be introduced on a trial basis at the IGI airport. It will reduce the waiting time to 15 seconds. The move, which is likely to come into being in the coming months, aims at reducing the long queues at the immigration counter at the airport, the report quoted an official as saying.
The state-of-the-art technology can scan and read passport details while a camera detects the passenger’s face at the e-gate, according to the official. The gate will swing open after the details are scanned. The machine needs to be fed with a database containing information that has been gathered beforehand. “Low-risk travelers who have been approved and verified by agencies can be allowed to go through by the machine. A database will be made for travelers who go abroad often,” an official said.
The gates will be initially tested at the arrivals section and then subsequently at departures as well. As many as 40 gates could be installed this year, the report added, citing sources.
“The technology is already being used abroad. But it may still take some time to be installed. Two such gates may initially be tested before more are put up. A passenger ideally only spends 10-15 seconds on such machines,” the official said.
in the current process, the immigration process per passenger is close to 10 minutes, with manual stamping and checking of a passport.
The Delhi international airport in the last year handled 63.5 million passengers, pushing it to rank as the seventh busiest airport in Asia and the 20th busiest globally, according to the Airport Council international. IGI was declared the best airport in the world in terms of passengers’ experience in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) 2017 rankings released by Airports Council International.
The rankings were based on feedback received on key 34 performance indicators, such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage and retail to rank the airports worldwide. Delhi tied in the first place with the Mumbai airport in the world in the highest category—airports with over 40 million passengers per annum. The airport surpassed the likes of Singapore’s Changi, Incheon and Bangkok airports in terms of passenger growth.