Mumbai, October 18: The recently introduced inline baggage screening system (IBSS) at Mumbai airport has made checking-in for passengers a lot more convenient. The system allows passengers to save at least five minutes of their time as they can now collect their boarding pass and proceed directly towards security.
Robin Singhvi (30), a finance consultant, was pleasantly surprised when he entered terminal 1A, Santacruz of Mumbai airport to board his flight to Ahmedabad.”I did not have to wait in a queue to get my baggage screened,” says Singhvi.”I just handed over my bag to the airport staff who took it for screening and I went to collect my boarding card from the airline counter. Everything was much quicker,” he says.
The baggage screening under the IBSS is carried out at four levels. Once the passenger checks in, his bag is put on the conveyor belt, which carries it to the IBSS machines.”Here, the bag is put through the x-ray machine. Normally, 30 to 35 per cent bags are rejected by the machine at the first level itself,” says an MIAL official.
A rejected bag then goes to the second level of the system where it is referred to an operator for another screening within 20 seconds.If the operator is still doubtful of the bag, he sends it to the third level where another operator gets three minutes to check the bag. If the doubt is not resolved, an explosive detector is used at the fourth level to check the baggage and the passenger is also called in to open it.
The Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) introduced the inline baggage screening system at international terminal, Sahar, in May and later at domestic terminals 1B and 1A in August and September respectively.
“Earlier the passenger had to wait in queue for baggage screening, which was done by the airline staff.This would easily take two to three minutes in non-peak hours and more than that during peak hours,” says Devendra Rathi (45), a businessman from Santacruz who is also a frequent flyer.”Now everything is less cumbersome and lot of time and efforts are saved,” he says.
–Agencies–