Govt shuts doors on IA, to let AAI X-ray baggage

At present, the national carriers and British Airways in Delhi and Mumbai have their own machines. While British Airways extended the facility only to its passengers, the other airlines had a tie-up with either of the two national carriers. ‘‘If say an airline has a tie-up with Air-India, its passengers can’t use the IA machine. Not just that, international terminals have dedicated gates for this purpose which only adds to the confusion,’’ says an official.

The order, issued on September 25, states this has been done to ease passenger congestion near X-ray machines. It has set a timeframe of 10 days for the order to be first implemented at Delhi’s international terminal.

But the move has its usual chinks in the armour. The national carriers which have X-ray machines at these airports seem to be the worst hit. It’s learnt that while IA used to make an annual profit of Rs 11 crore providing X-ray facilities to other airlines, not it will have to cough up about Rs 4 crore annually for the AAI.

Sources say the ministry has also not consulted the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security on the matter. The order says the BCAS will make necessary amendments to the Civil Aviation Security Programme to legalise the order, which, sources add, is easier said than done.

But what seems like the biggest roadblock is the availability of trained manpower to run the machines. The order says the machines will be manned by CISF personnel. Sources say CISF sub-inspectors have been trained to run only small machines.

Despite the hurdles, Delhi Airport Director P.S. Nair is confident of implementing the order. ‘‘I am convinced this will ease passenger congestion.’’