Airlines improve baggage delivery at Delhi, Mumbai and other major airports after BCAS’s warning

The baggage delivery system at all major airports in the country has undergone significant improvement after BCAS issued strict instructions to airlines. (PTI)

Significant improvements have been observed in the baggage delivery system at major airports across India following strict instructions from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

According to sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, BCAS issued an order setting the targets for baggage delivery by airlines in order to address the inordinate delay in baggage delivery on the arrival of flights.

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BCAS has mandated airlines to ensure that the last checked-in baggage is delivered within 30 minutes of arrival. After getting many complaints of baggage delays, BCAS initiated a monitoring exercise in January 2024 to track the arrival time of baggage at belt areas in six major airports.

BCAS’s monitoring initiative is in accordance with the Operation, Management, and Delivery Agreement (OMDA) standards, which states that the first bag should arrive at the baggage belt within 10 minutes of engine shutdown, while the last bag should be delivered within 30 minutes.

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For major airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai, the target set is 30 minutes, while for airports like Hyderabad and Bengaluru, it’s 15 minutes.

Baggage delivery improves 

This initiative has considerably addressed Baggage delivery delays. Between January 14 and March 16, the percentage of baggage received within 30 minutes improving from 62% to 84.8%.

Additionally, the officials have taken measures to address congestion issues at 16 major airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Cochin, Goa, Guwahati, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna and Trivandrum – through enhanced deployment of CISF personnel, immigration and emigration counter management, increased screening equipment, and expanded entry and check-in counters.

Improved passenger movement

Extra security measures and infrastructure improvements have been implemented since November last year to facilitate smoother passenger movement.

“Since November last year, additional XBIS, additional lanes, additional check-in counters and additional immigration and Emigration counters have been set up at many airports in order to felicitate smooth passenger movement,” said a senior official.