The Delhi airport has introduced e-boarding gates across all three terminals for passengers flying out of the city for contactless, seamless travelling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that following the government’s Digital India campaign, GMR-led DIAL has rolled out an e-boarding facility to enable faster and seamless processing of the departing passengers across all flights.

“All boarding gates have contact-less e-boarding gates with boarding card scanners, which will allow passengers to flash their physical or e-boarding cards to verify flight details and once done, they can proceed for security checks. E-gates are empowered by touchless technologies. Passengers who have verified their boarding passes by scanning at the e-gates can simply walk past the e-boarding gates for security checks and then board a flight without having to show their documents again,” said DIAL.

E-boarding gates have been set up at Terminal 3 and Terminal 2 and deployment is in progress at Terminal 1. These e-gates allow passengers carrying wide luggage/passengers with reduced mobility (PRM) to pass through it easily, passengers carrying only the hand baggage can walk through the normal lane e-gates, DIAL added.

The touchless procedure not only minimizes touching of facility surfaces and people interaction under COVID-19 but also shortens the boarding time.

The facility has reduced 50 per cent of the transaction time, resulting in lower queues, and has also improved the security aspect where boarding card details are verified with the airlines back office.

Commenting on this development, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL, said: “DIAL is in constant pursuit of enhancing the passenger experience. Though, the onset of the global pandemic has made it more challenging to meet the travelers’ expectations as health and safety concerns have increased. DIAL has responded to the challenge and set a benchmark with several innovative solutions in place, e-boarding gates being one of the unique technological solutions installed at the airport. The in-house team of DIAL performed several trials at Delhi Airport, keeping in view the COVID-19 guidelines issued by various government agencies. Our sole aim is to keep our passengers safe at any cost.”