Distancing norms go for toss as air traffic soars

Distancing norms go for toss as air traffic soars

Passengers Careless Inside All Terminals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  15.12.2020

As the number of passengers has increased, social distancing measures have gone for a toss inside the terminals at Chennai airport.

There seems to be a mismatch between precautions followed inflight and norms adheared to during boarding and disembarking, especially when shuttle buses are used.

Often, precautions are taken seriously inflight but not inside the terminals where passengers appear more relaxed and careless during morning peak hours.

Sources said that passengers tend to follow the norms at all stages of the departure process.

"They try to crowd around ticket counters outside the terminals, at the baggage drop area and also during the boarding process. There are spots marked on the floor to ensure that people stand on them but none follows this. No one listens too," said an airport official. While there is some semblance of order and discipline in the departure terminal, it's chaotic at the arrival terminals. Passengers crowd around the baggage conveyor.

In most of the instances, airlines allot more than one flight to a baggage conveyor making more than 200 passengers to crowd around waiting to pick up the bags.

As the number of arriving passengers are more than departure, the crowding is more in the arrival terminal.

Jacob R, a passenger who arrived from Kochi on Sunday, said, "The safety protocol inflight was excellent. There were announcements and people behaved well. But everything went for a toss when people disembarked. The shuttle bus was packed with passengers. This defeats the whole purpose of following health safety rules inside the aircraft.”

He also said, "There was very little scope for maintaining social distance inside the bus as people were standing rubbing shoulders to each others."

Rules say that there should be only 15 to 20 passengers in one shuttle bus. This is followed often for departures but not always for arrivals.

"People are lowering their guard as lockdown restrictions have been relaxed and life is coming back to normal. That is being reflected at the airport too. Procedures have been tweaked to ensure minimum passenger-staff contact inside the terminals and inflight. The departure process is digital. The airline staff and the security staff follow the rules," said an airline official.

The airport now handles more than 20,000 passengers and more than 200flights per day.

A file photo shows people violating social distancing norms at a counter at the airport