by Staff Correspondent
Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a GMR Group led consortium, lately announced that the flight operations at Terminal 2 will recommence with effect from Thursday, July 22 at 0001 hours.
The terminal is all set to provide a safe and healthy environment to passengers, flying out of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
The resumption of operations at T2 will be with approximately 200 air traffic movements (100 departures and 100 arrivals) per day and increase progressively up to 280 expected by end of August.
The terminal has resumed operations with IndiGo’s 2000-2999 series flights and entire operations of GoAir and is expecting to witness around 25,000 passenger footfalls in the initial phase. About 27 counters – 11 for GoAir and 16 for IndiGo – are available to cater to the passengers of respective flights.
The first flight scheduled from T2 after reopening of this terminal was a Kolkata bound Indigo flight, which got airborne at 03:00 AM.
DIAL has taken several safety measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and ensure safety of passengers, as directed by the Government of India.
“Delhi Airport is all set with its T2 once again for domestic flight operations after the recent shutdown owing to second wave of COVID-19. We would like to assure passengers that at Delhi airport, they would be in a safe and healthy environment. We have implemented several measures at the airport to ensure passenger safety without compromising their comfort and experience. Our teams have worked round-the-clock to sanitize the terminal. DIAL will continue its awareness drive by educating and encouraging passengers to wear face masks and maintain social distance while at the airport,” expressed Mr. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL.
After resumption of flight operations on October 1, 2020, commercial operations of domestic flights were suspended again at T2 on May 18, 2021, following significant drop in domestic air traffic. The decision to resume T2 operations has been taken after Delhi Airport started witnessing gradual growth in passenger footfall post relaxation in lockdown and travel norms by various states since June.
During a recent survey on passenger experience at Delhi Airport, about 99% of flyers felt confident of flying through Delhi Airport. Among those who participated in the survey, 51% passengers felt extremely confident while 48% were fairly confident while travelling through Delhi Airport.
Arrangements at Terminal 2
For the entry into the airport
· 10 Scan & Fly and 3 CUSS kiosks will be available for passengers having done web check-in before entering the terminal to take a print of their boarding pass, if required.
· Airlines will have manned assistance counters at the departure forecourt to support passengers who have not done the mandatory web-checkin before arrival at the airport.
· 10 e-processing kiosks have been installed at the entry gates to establish a contactless process for entry to the terminal and for entry to the security checkpoint.
· Physical printed boarding passes are no longer necessary if the passenger has downloaded a copy of their boarding pass onto their smartphone.
· Arrangements have been made for thermal scanning of passengers as per Government guidelines
At the Check-in
· To avoid close contact and crowding at the counters, passengers are encouraged to use the e-boarding facility
· 10 e-boarding kiosks have been set up at the entry gates, 8 at the main security hold area (SHA) and 4 at the Express Check-in lane, which would be operational as required, based on demand
· The Security Hold Area (SHA) has been expanded to make adequate seating arrangements and enhanced retail options
At the Security check
· Alignment of queues to ensure social distance among CISF personnel and passengers
· Deployment of queue managers, floor markings and allocation of alternate seats, installation of automatic hand sanitizer at various places
· Tray disinfection for passengers’ safety will be maintained
· Auto dispensing sanitizer machines have been kept for passengers to use after security checks
· Contact-less Retail and F&B Options
· After security checks, passengers will move to SHA, where they can access food court, lounges, and retail shops. Social distance markings have been put in food courts, lifts, seats etc.
· Strict & stringent SOP would be maintained for Food and Beverage (F&B) shops, lounges, retail shops to ensure safety and hygiene
· Passengers are encouraged to download HOI app, a dedicated AI-enabled app for Delhi and Hyderabad airports, for contact-less food ordering service
At the boarding gate
· Passengers are requested not to use seats with yellow bands to ensure social distance
· Queue managers would be deployed at boarding & bussing gates
For arriving passengers
· Arrival forecourt has been revamped with the pathway, connecting T2 and T3, widened for transfer passengers and airport express line passengers
· Buggy services will be available for people with reduced mobility (PRM) and senior citizens commuting between T3 and T2
· Social distance markings have been put up at various places inside the terminal. These include aerobridges, piers, lifts, travellators, around baggage belts, all transport waiting areas, etc. Also, the provision of hand sanitizers at the exit of passenger bridges /bus gate arrival area has been made.
· Additional seating arrangement has been made for waiting passengers
· To encourage compliance of social distancing norms at the airport, DIAL has deployed additional queue managers at kerb side (city side), check-in halls, security check areas and boarding gates, with social distance marks.
· DIAL will encourage all passengers to wear masks and maintain social distance at all times, to ensure their safety and well-being.
Sanitization of high contact surfaces
· Deep cleaning of 45,000 square meter Terminal 2 is carried out 24*7. A team of more than 200 housekeeping personnel have been deployed to ensure a clean and sanitized terminal for passengers round the clock.
· Regular sanitization of high contact surfaces, such as desks, chairs, elevators, railings, CUSS, trolleys, handles, trays, baggage belts, etc. inside the terminals would be carried out. Apart from these, washrooms will be closed after every hour to sanitize all its surfaces through regular cleaning.
· The air-conditioning system of all the passenger area inside the terminal is capable of changing the air twice an hour to ensure that the fresh air is inducted regularly. About 150 new air filters have been replaced with the old ones that are kept clean through close monitoring.
· During second wave of COVID-19, Delhi Airport introduced the use of Luminometers to ensure surfaces of high contact areas are safe, hygienic and free from any living or dead bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms after disinfection exercise. Delhi Airport is first airport in India to do so.
· Luminometers are very sensitive devices that can measure even weak emissions of visible light coming from a sample, by means of a photomultiplier tube. After a surface is cleaned, a test swab is taken and put in a Luminometer. It measures the intensity of the light emitted from a sample, and displays the test result in Relative Light Units (RLU), which is used to determine if the sample has passed or failed.
· Apart from these, DIAL will also have facilities to isolate suspected COVID-19 passengers at the airport following government direction.
