Post security check, return bag trays on carousel: Plea to flyers
Times of India | 28 April 2024
Kolkata: Once security check is over, don’t leave the trays for hand luggage on the floor, tables and seats but put them back on the stack or the designated spot: the authorities at the city airport has appealed to passengers, saying a little help from them will expedite the security check process as passengers on the other side won’t have to wait for the trays to put their handbags in.
The problem of “abandoned trays” at the city airport had increased of late with a rise in people flying out as some schools had shut for the heat, said an official. The airport authorities were apparently compelled to deploy extra personnel just to pick up the trays and put them back in the system so that those waiting could easily avail of them. “It is a problem at many airports across the world and it’s about passenger behaviour. We have plenty of trays and a system, where the trays are rolled back to the security check starting point, if they are put on the carousel. But if flyers, after their security check, leave the trays around, it becomes a problem. Our officials have to go around, picking up the trays and stacking them back on the carousel, for further use,” said a senior airport official.
Automatic tray retrieval system (ATRS) has been in use at Kolkata airport since 2020. The machine comprises rollers on which trays and cabin bags are put for scanning during security check. The rollers pass the tray through the scanner and bring the tray back to the starting point after flyers collect their belongings. It has sped up the security check process significantly by automatic segregation of bags and trays carrying suspected items and cutting down on manual intervention.
Airport officials said the problem had not been as bad as it was now, owing to a spurt in outbound passenger traffic. On Friday, the passenger count at the airport was 60,404, while it was around the 50,000-mark at the start of the month. “So, we are asking people to keep the trays back on the stack after collecting their belongings and not to leave them on tables, chairs and even on the floor,” said the official.
The airport authorities have for now tasked two private security agency personnel to collect the trays and keep them back in the system. They are otherwise deployed in non-core areas, like segregation points, queue management and domestic-to-domestic transfer zones.