Hyderabad: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad, today announced that it is all set to provide a safe and healthy environment with a robust contact-less boarding experience for the passengers flying out of the airport. As per the direction of the Government of India, domestic flight operations will resume from 25th May after suspension for about two months, following the nationwide lockdown due to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic.
Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) had announced on May 20 that domestic flight operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from May 25, 2020. Commercial operations of domestic and international flights were suspended from March 24, in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic in the country.
- The airport to resume operations from 25th May as per Govt. directions
- Various measures are taken for a safe and healthy environment at terminal
- Contact-less boarding for passengers traveling through Hyderabad International Airport
- Frequent sanitization of various passenger touchpoints, baggage, trays & trolleys, carts
- Floor markings to ensure compliance of social distancing norms
- Deployment of queue managers at boarding & bussing gates
- Passengers to be encouraged to check-in from home or use self-service facilities
GHIAL has taken a slew of measures with a focus on seamlessly contact-less boarding experience for passengers including some stringent safety measures viz. thermal scanning of every departing passenger, the availability of automatic hand sanitizer dispensers at various places, placing floor markers, staggered seating arrangements, allocation of entry gates and check-in islands for departure passengers to encourage compliance of social distancing norms and minimize human contact at the airport.
Mr SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “Hyderabad International Airport is all set to commence its operations after a gap of almost two months. We are fully geared up to provide a safe and healthy environment for passengers while they are traveling through our airport. Already equipped with a fully paperless e-boarding facility for long, Hyderabad International Airport will be offering technology-based contact-less boarding for passengers across all passenger touchpoints. The Hyderabad International Airport has undertaken robust deep-cleaning and sanitisation across the entire terminal and passengers need not be in the least apprehensive, as passenger safety is our priority. We shall continue to work on spreading awareness about the new normal that has come into place and highlight the importance of social distancing and personal care and hygiene.”
Arrangements at Hyderabad International Airport
As per govt. guidelines, provisions will be made for the thermal scanning of passengers. In order to avoid close contact and crowding at the counters, passengers will be encouraged to check-in at home or use self-service facilities such as self-check-in facility, self-bag tag facility, scan & fly, etc As per the govt guidelines, passengers would be required carry maximum of one hand baggage and one check-in baggage
Deployment of queue managers, social distance markings, seating arrangement with social distance norms have been made before security check to avoid crowding.
Special Disinfection Facilities
Special disinfection systems have been put in place to disinfect all baggage moving through the airport’s baggage handling systems, passenger trolleys and hand baggage security screening trays.
Passengers departing will be able to personally collect freshly disinfected baggage trolleys on the departure ramp itself from the newly deployed trolley disinfection tunnels, ensuring that no one else touches the disinfected trolleys before collection by a passenger.
Similarly, each security screening hand baggage tray moves through a disinfection tunnel before arriving at the collection point for use by passengers, ensuring sanitized, un-touched trays are available to every passenger for their use.
Contact-less Self Check: The airport has deployed 48 self-check-in kiosks safely staggered as per social-distancing norms across the airport forecourt area and at Check-in halls for a contact-less boarding experience. GHIAL has enabled each Self-check-in kiosks with a touch-less technology, with the help of which, passengers can scan a QR code displayed on each kiosk and capture the screen of Self-check-in kiosk on their mobile phones to complete Check-in and receive the print of boarding card and baggage tags for Bag drop in no time. All these kiosks are capable of dispensing both Boarding Cards and Baggage Tags for the check-in luggage for all major airlines.
Contact-less Airport Entry: To ensure a contactless journey and eliminate the exchange of documents at terminal entry, the airport has deployed Smart Cameras and Scanners at each departures gate. Passengers need to display their Government ID and scan the barcode with the camera cum scanner which helps the CISF personnel to validate the passengers’ credentials with adequate social distancing and upon satisfaction allowing them entry to the terminal.
Thermal scanners are available to monitor the passengers’ temperature and only those with normal temperature would be allowed entry.
Contact-less Check in: Checked-in Passengers with baggage have the option to use Self-Check-in kiosks staggered at the check-in hall as per social distancing norms to print baggage tag and then use either Check-in counter or Self Bag Drop facility to do it on their own or staff deployed at the counter.
To enable contactless journey further, every check-in counter has been designed with a protective shield that prevents contact between airline staff and passenger.
Contact-less Security Check: At all Security Check zones, passengers can take advantage of Hyderabad Airport’s unique paperless E-boarding system to travel using electronic boarding passes stored on their mobile phones. Mobile scanner kiosks are conveniently placed at hand baggage divesting points next to each X-ray machine in-feed, so passengers using the Mobile Boarding facility can scan their boarding pass QR code for verification / validation by CISF personnel before divesting the phones for screening; once the travel details are scanned, the phone along with the hand baggage can be placed in the fully sanitized tray for X-Ray scan and passenger can proceed for security frisking.
Passengers having hard copy of boarding pass straightaway divest their hand baggage for X-ray screening and proceed for security check and at the frisking point, such passengers can scan the boarding pass Barcode themselves at the Kiosk placed next to the CISF personnel on duty and proceed further.
Social Distancing & Other Health Measures across all zones: Social distance marking have been put in food courts, lifts, seating etc. Strict & stringent SOP would be maintained for Food and Beverage (F&B) shops, lounges, retail shops and all other non-aero areas to ensure safety, health and hygiene. To avoid crowding at one place, GHIAL would encourage all F&B and retail shopsto remain open.
Passengers would be encouraged to download HOI app, a dedicated AI-enabled app available across both Hyderabad and Delhi airports, for contact-less commerce. It can also be used for contact-less food ordering.
Contact-less Boarding: At the boarding gate area, seating arrangement with marking of chairs for non-usage have been made to ensure social distancing. Queue managers would be deployed for boarding and bussing gates.
All boarding gates have contact-less e- boarding gates with boarding card scanners, which will help the passengers to just flash their boarding cards to verify flight details and once done, they can proceed to board the aircraft.
Contact-less Retail and F&B Options: Taking a step forward to enhance passenger experience while keeping them safe and abiding by the mandatory protocols announced by the Government of India amid the pandemic outbreak, GMR’s two leading airports in Delhi and Hyderabad have come up with a first of its kind contact less food ordering solution at the airport.
In line with the Government of India’s Digital India vision, Delhi and Hyderabad airports, have partnered with HOI, a cognitive and intuitive travel app that helps the travelers navigate the airport seamlessly. Contact-less food ordering and payment service are some of the unique features of the HOI app.
Passengers can avail of this facility by simply downloading the app on their Android or iOS device, sign-up, and add their upcoming flight’s travel details. They will be able to access all the events happening at the airports in just a few taps.
Apart from the contact-less food ordering feature, this app has several valuable features for both the airport passengers, such as real-time flight status alerts, boarding gate, and belt information, airport facility information, time to gate and waiting for estimates, weather at destination amongst others.
Arrival Passengers: For arriving passengers, social distance marking have been put up at aerobridges, piers, lifts, moving walks etc. Also, provision of automatic hand sanitizer dispensers at the exit of passenger bridges /bus gate arrival area have been made.
All incoming baggage would be disinfected at the sanitization tunnel that has been developed in-house by the GHIAL airport team. Similar Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) will be followed for departure baggage handling as well. Social distance markings have been put up around baggage belts and additional seating arrangements have been made in this area for waiting passengers.
General Information
- Social distance marking has been made at all transport waiting areas and SOP is in place with cab providers for disinfection of cabs before use at the airport.
- To encourage compliance of social distancing norms at the airport, GHIAL has deployed additional queue managers at the kerbside (city side), check-in halls, security check areas, and boarding gates, with social distancing markers/reminders.
- GHIAL will encourage all passengers to wear masks and maintain social distancing at all times, to ensure their own safety and well-being.
- Deep cleaning of 127,000 square metre terminal, which spreads out across 7 levels is carried out every day. A team of over 100 professionals have been deployed to carry out frequent disinfection drives at an hourly frequency.
- Regular sanitization of high contact surfaces, such as desks, chairs, elevators, railings, self-check-in kiosks, 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 and regular cleaning.
- For the safety of passengers and staff, trolleys would be disinfected through the disinfection tunnel after each use.
- Apart from these, GHIAL will also have facilities to isolate suspected COVID-19 passengers at the airport in accordance with government direction
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