The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has directed all airlines operating in India to take steps for deploying sufficient manpower within 10 days, in order to ensure baggage gets delivered to passengers within prescribed time limits at airports.
This follows BCAS’ monitoring exercise in January that found baggage arrival timings at six major metro airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai – were not meeting the standards defined in the Operation, Management and Delivery Agreement (OMDA).
Violations of Service Standards Found As per OMDA norms set during airport privatizations in 2006, first bags must reach the belt within 10 minutes of aircraft engine shutdown, while the last bag should arrive within 30 minutes.
However, BCAS’ assessments uncovered violations where passengers had to wait much longer for their checked-in luggage across carriers. It has now expanded monitoring to all airports pan-India and asked airlines to comply with timelines without delays.
The move comes amid growing congestion and chaos witnessed at major airports recently. The government and BCAS have undertaken various steps like slot control, capacity measurement at checkpoints and this latest order to ease airport infrastructure strain and ensure service quality for flyers. Airlines have been warned of action if problems persist.
