Air passengers in India might be up for a swifter clearance of their bags if a certain diktat by the aviation security regulator will be followed to the letter.
Indian Aviation Security Regulator orders installation of CTX machines
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has ordered the operators of all Indian airports handling over 50 lakh passengers annually to install 3D-computed tomography X-Ray (CTX) machines for cabin baggage screening by December 31, 2023.
The introduction of CTX machines will mean that passengers will not be required to keep their personal electronic devices, chargers, liquids, etc., in separate trays. Currently, the screening is done by 2D X-Ray scanners that give a two-dimensional image of the objects in your bag. That means more trays are required per passenger, leading to a slowing down of the screening process.
Per current statistics, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will be some of the airports making the cut for installing these machines. New airports such as Greater Noida and Navi Mumbai must install the upgrades before the start of the operation itself.
In the UK, airports are currently moving to install these machines so that people do not have to remove items from their bags.
Earlier security upgrades are still not through.
However, colour me circumspect about these installations being made by the end of 2023. A deadline to install full-body scanners has continued to roll over since the first date passed in March 2020. The equipment is costly, and airports dragged their feet to install even simpler things, such as Automatic Tray Retrieval Systems. It is simply a question of who pays for it.
Bottomline
The Indian Aviation Security Regulator, BCAS, has mandated that the big airports in India (in terms of customer handling) purchase and install new baggage screening machines which use the CTX technology by the end of December 2023. However, it remains to be seen if this will happen, as earlier security upgrades have yet to go through and have seen a rolling delay for the past three years.
What do you think will be the fate of this new order from the BCAS? Will they, won’t they?
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They should install these machines as soon as possible. Since almost ten years in the Geneva international airport, a part of the security machines are like this (there are two lines, you can choose): it is not necessary to open your cabin luggage to take out the laptop and other items. But you still have to empty your pockets (wallet, watch, belt must go into the cabin luggage). It is really more confortable.