Hyderabad:To reduce physical contact during flight travel as a measure against the spread of COVID-19, the Hyderabad International Airport is now using infrared sensors in its elevators at the departure level. Executed under a project, passengers can now avoid touching elevator buttons at one of the departure lifts, as sensors on it can whichever button they want to touch from as far as a distance of 1 to 10 centimetres.
The airport, which is run by the GMR group, has introduced the technology-based solution to make air travel safer and ensure a contact-less travel experience for passengers. The lift is fitted with an array of infrared sensors to detect the spatial position of the a passengers’ fingers as they pass through the sensing plane.
Piloted at one of the elevators at the departures level, users of that elevator need to wave their hands closer to the sensor to call the elevator. Once inside the elevator, they can point their finger towards a floor number they want to get to. The sensor is said to detect interaction from a distance of 0.1-10 cm from the button surface to enable users to make their selection with absolutely no physical contact.
Other measures at the RGI include, zero-contact and fully sanitized services viz. self-check in kiosks, tech-enabled entry gates, self-baggage drop, virtual information desk for passengers, UV enabled disinfection of Automatic Tray Retrieval Systems (ATRS) at the pre-embarkation security screening zones, UV ovens at the retail outlets, touch less drinking water fountains and inline disinfection of departure and arrival baggage trolleys, washrooms among others.
Increase in footfall
According to the airport authorities, the number of passengers has also been steadily increasing. Initially, after air travel resumed May 25, the footfall of passengers per day was just 3,000. However, this has now steadily increased to about 20,000 everyday.
The airport is also handling over 200 daily domestic air traffic movements, which is five times more than what was seen after domestic flights had become operational. The airport has also restored close to 93% of its domestic destinations having, gained back 51 domestic destinations out of 55 pre-COVID domestic destinations.