Technology Advancements at GMR Airports during COVID-19 pandemic

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Creating a safer tomorrow, today with futuristic approaches and technology-driven strategies

31 July 2020

Technology has always been there to uplift humankind, even during the current times of COVID-19, it is the silver lining that has given everyone hope to brave the situation. And at GMR led Delhi and Hyderabad airports, we have been leveraging the best of technologies to ensure a safer and smarter travel experience for all our passengers. The prime focus is to contain the spread of contagion by reducing human intervention. Touchless, contactless and self-service technologies at every step of passenger journey will facilitate passenger flow, reducing queues while maintaining a social distancing - friendly travel experience.

To ensure contactless identity verification, we have deployed Facial Recognition technology at three checkpoints - airport entry, entry into security checks, and aircraft boarding. With this technology, the passenger's entry gets processed automatically. Passengers can enrol for facial recognition using valid flight tickets and government ID proofs at registration kiosks. The solution is compliant with the guidelines of Privacy-by-Design, an internationally recognized standard for privacy. The passenger data is only stored in the system till the time of departure and once the flight departs, all biometric data is erased by the system.

To reduce check-in time, passengers can print their boarding pass using Common Usage Self Service (CUSS) machines at our airports. Self-Baggage Drop kiosks are another technology that is very useful in these times. Passenger prints out the bag tag from the CUSS machines and can put it on their bags, all by themselves. Bags are then dropped on the conveyor and are taken to the aircraft. These machines help to reduce the long lines at the airline check-in counter while increasing the throughput. It also minimizes physical interaction between the passengers and airport staff.

At all Security Check zones of Hyderabad Airport, passengers can take advantage of the paperless E-boarding system to travel using electronic boarding passes stored on their mobile phones. Mobile scanner kiosks are conveniently placed at hand baggage divesting points next to each X-ray machine in-feed. Passengers using the Mobile Boarding facility can scan their boarding pass QR code for verification/validation by CISF personnel. Once the travel details get scanned, the phone along with the hand baggage can be placed in the fully sanitized tray for the X-Ray scan and passengers can proceed for security frisking.

The new smart X-ray machines have Automatic Tray Retrieval System (ATRS) at the security checks in of both the airports. The smart machines dispense 650 trays an hour in a way that four passengers can put their belongings for screening. To ensure the conveyor belt doesn't stop, there is a diversion belt for bags that may have prohibited items. For better security, RFID tags are attached to each tray and the X-ray images of the content are linked to it. The machine helps to eliminate the manual intervention of handling of trays by the CISF security personnel.

To ensure the safety of passengers and staff, Delhi Airport has made operational several UV (ultra violet) based disinfecting systems, including specially designed UV (ultraviolet) based tunnels to disinfect Check point trays and baggage, mobile UV tower to disinfect surfaces in terminal area and hand held UV device. These systems produce short-wave ultraviolet light disrupting DNA based paring and leads to the formation of pyrimidine dimers that inactivates bacteria, viruses and protozoa. More than 700 UV lamps have been put in place that sucks air inside the terminal into the Air Handling Unit (AHU), where it gets sanitized after passing through UV light and Hepa filters, before being injected again into the terminal building. The systems replace the air inside the terminal with fresh, contagion-free air in every 10 minutes.

Hyderabad Airport always had one of the best HVAC system with Carbon-level-monitored fresh air control mechanism right from its inception. However, as per the latest Covid-19 guidelines issued by the Govt. on the quantity of fresh air requirement, the airport reconfigured the air conditioning system and entire network of air circulation across the terminal building and further enhanced the Indoor air quality by doubling the quantity of the treated fresh air requirements. While, the air temperatures are being maintained in the range of 24 to 30 degrees, RH (Relative Humidity) is kept between 55% and 70%. The MERV 13 level air filtration systems at Hyderabad airport are being maintained at 10-15 Air Change Per Hour (ACHP) to sustain healthier conditions inside the spaces.

Passengers would be encouraged to download HOI app, a dedicated AI-enabled app for Delhi and Hyderabad airports, for contact-less commerce. It can also be used for contact-less food ordering. HOI, a cognitive and intuitive travel app available on both Android and iOS devices will help the travelers in navigating the airport seamlessly. Contact-less food ordering and payment service is one of the unique features of HOI app. Apart from contact-less food ordering feature, this app has several valuable features for both the airports' passengers, such as real time flight status alerts, boarding gate and belt information, airport facility information, time to gate and waiting estimates, weather at destination amongst others.