MUMBAI: At Mumbai airport‘s Terminal 2, a new practice was introduced this past weekend wherein both domestic and international passengers pass through a common security checkpoint. Passengers are segregated after they clear security with the domestic passengers heading to their boarding gates, while the international passengers go on to clear immigration.
“Earlier at T2, security check of domestic and international passengers was carried out at Level 3 and Level 4, respectively. With the introduction of the ‘Integrated Security Check Point’ feature, both domestic and international passengers will now move through any one set of e-gates installed at five different locations at the pre-security check area,” said a Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson.
Passengers will be separated via validation at another set of e-gates installed post-security check. Mumbai airport T2 is currently the only terminal in India to have an integrated security checkpoint, a feature introduced on June 24.
But will this lead to longer security queues? No, says MIAL. Security clearance at T2 has also undergone a technological upgrade as well with the installation of an automatic tray retrieval system (ATRS). A total of 13 ATRS – roller and sensor-based machines programmed to return luggage trays to the starting point after passengers collect their belongings work to circulate an average of 350 sanitized trays per hour, said MIAL. “It will boost the processing time of passenger luggage check… and passengers won’t have to wait and look around for trays,” it said. With ATRS, an average of 280 passengers can clear security per hour, which is a two-fold increase from the previous average of 130 in the conventional system, said MIAL.
The ATRS is also being deployed and installed at Terminal 1.