New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah directed completion of work at all impending 62 airports in next two years as he took a stock of passenger facilities and security arrangements at the airports in a review meeting held alongside Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu and other senior officials on Wednesday.
Currently, work is underway to operationalise 21 airports, while another 41 are in pipeline, as per the Civil Aviation Ministry data.
In the meeting, Shah directed that an Automatic Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) be installed in a phased manner at all airports across the country. He also asked for a framework to ensure smooth passenger movement between lanes, check-in counters, security screening lanes and immigration counters.
The Union Home Minister directed the Civil Aviation Ministry to lay down norms for the number of aerobridges at all airports based on passenger traffic and air traffic. He further directed that the baggage drop facility, currently available at the 16 major airports, be extended to other international airports with high passenger traffic as well.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has been directed to install immigration checkpoints at newly-inaugurated Agartala and Jewar airports at earliest. While the integrated terminal building at Agartala Airport was inaugurated on January 4, 2022, the Jewar Airport was inaugurated by PM Modi in March this year.
Shah also directed that, to popularize the Fast Track Immigration – Trusted Travellers’ Programme (FTI-TTP), a mechanism should be established in coordination with airlines to send a WhatsApp message to passengers at the time of booking an international ticket, requesting them to register for the FTI-TTP.