After Delhi, Bengaluru Airport Now Witnesses Congestion, Huge Crowds

Just as the chaos at Delhi airport is finally calming down after days of uncertainty, Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport is now showing warning signs of a similar chaos. With footfall exceeding pre-pandemic levels, which was more than 1 lakh daily passengers, massive crowds and delayed check-ins are being reported from Bengaluru airport.

Huge crowds were witnessed especially at immigration caused majorly due to a shortage of staff, sources said. With some flights reporting delays and clashed timings, which further frustrated the festive season travelers, sources additionally said that there was a shortage in the CISF staff which led to long, unmanaged queues.

"Bengaluru airport has no control over it. It's the CISF who should manage it well. We have been lending support. The support can be given only to some extent. The CISF is short staffed, and the immigration is managed by the central authorities. It's a peak travel season and a little more than expected," a source from the Bengaluru Airport told NDTV.

The airport spokesperson told NDTV that staff have been working around the clock to regulate the crowd and advised passengers to use the airport application to get real-time estimations on flight status and queue time.

"We at Bengaluru Airport have been working around the clock to regulate the crowd and establish a safe and seamless environment at the airport in response to the arrival of the holiday season and the increase in passenger traffic at the airport," they said.

The spokesperson added, "In order to accommodate both domestic and foreign traffic during peak hours, we have transformed two international automated tray retrieval system lanes into swing lanes. All checkpoints have members of our well-trained personnel on duty to ensure crowd rerouting and even distribution between zones."

On how they plan to manage the brewing chaos, they said, "We have deployed additional personnel at the security hold area to remind passengers to remove restricted items from their luggage. We are closely coordinating with Immigration and CISF officials to ensure they are doing their best in deploying adequate staff. We have also ensured that sufficient support and designated lanes are available for the elderly and passengers with infants."

Following days of long queues and check-in delays, the Delhi airport's management informed today that the average waiting time for passengers has been brought down to between 7-8 minutes at the international terminal.