From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Sep 1: Beginning of the month of September marks 100 days since the resumption of scheduled domestic air travel in India and the Bengaluru International Airports Ltd (BIAL), which operates the Kempegowda International Airport, has welcomed 1.4 million domestic passengers with 15,658 Air Traffic Movements.

Operations were permitted by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) starting May 25, 2020, following a two-month COVID-induced lockdown.

During the lockdown, together with the aviation community, BIAL worked relentlessly to put in place best-in-class measures at Kempegowda International Airport to create a safe, secure and seamless experience for passengers. 

The technologically-enabled Parking-to-Boarding contactless journey that minimises all physical contact was developed and rolled out in just two weeks. Aided with facial-recognition for self-boarding, pioneered and rolled out earlier at BLR Airport as well as various sanitisation and hygiene measures, ensured that passengers continued to have a seamless, touch-free Airport experience.

As compared to July 2020, there was 39% growth in Air Traffic Movements (ATMs) and over 47% growth in passenger traffic in August 2020 indicating a positive trend with successive measures to unlock India’s economy.

With the relaxation of state regulations and the addition of capacity by airlines, the numbers are expected to increase in the coming days and months.

Since the resumption of domestic operations, BIAL has reconnected with 49 of 58 domestic city pairs, achieving 84% of the pre-COVID network.

Kolkata emerged as the top destination with 13% of domestic passengers to and from BIAL, while Delhi at 11% and Patna at 6% were second and third respectively.

Passenger movement was highest towards the Eastern/North-Eastern regions of India at 33.7% followed closely by South India at 30.9%. 

Robust initiatives including 'Touch-free Virtual Information Desks' are the outcome of passenger responses to the Voice of Pax survey conducted by BIAL that was carried out to understand passenger reception towards air travel. More than 90% considered airports safer than any other location and air travel safer than any other mode of transport.

Contactless F&B and Retail

The safety measures for F&B and Retail at BIAL include pre-ordering of food to minimise waiting time, seamless takeaway or at-location delivery, contactless payments and ensuring training of hygiene standards for all staff.

All F&B outlets have contactless options (FSTR by BLR, kiosks, QR code) to help travellers avoid human contact at outlets and eliminate queues by pre-ordering through their smartphones.

During the last 100 days, passengers have begun to get used to contactless F&B and retail options.

All airport taxis and app-based taxis are sanitised before every trip from the Airport to ensure the health of passengers. Contactless payment options are available for airport taxi services, as well.

Some of the factors that contributed to successful operations are:

• Contactless processing of passengers through the Airport: The entire contactless processing solution was rolled out in under two weeks.  
• DigiYatra biometric self-boarding to make air travel paperless. DigiYatra is enabled for Air Vistara and AirAsia India flights, with SpiceJet, expected to go-live shortly
• Stringent sanitisation of the Terminal, taxis and all high touchpoints
• UV treatment and sanitisation of trays after every use
• Enhanced ventilation to increase fresh air intake and an increase in AC temperature at the Terminal from 23 deg C to 25 deg C to minimise transmission of the virus.
• Launch of our 'Touch-free Virtual Information Desks,' enabling travellers to have real-time conversations with Airport staff over touch-free video
• A campaign by BIAL to update passengers and their families on the travel advisories from MoCA, MoFHW and GoK – using social media and on-ground communication

With employees exposed to the risk of infection, BIAL set up a robust BCP to ensure operations remain uninterrupted. To look after their wellbeing, stringent hygiene measures have been deployed at the workplace, including testing, counselling support and 24/7 helpline for employees, by employees.