Younis Ahmad Kaloo

India is set to become the largest civil aviation sector in the world by 2030. Domestically, the country’s air traffic nearly doubled to 117 million passengers in 2017 since 2011. According to the data released by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in January this year, a hundred flights took off every hour in 2017 compared to 67 in 2011.

A security person searches a passenger at an airport

While the increase in air traffic in India is welcomed, the security protocols adopted at airports are, however, found ‘embarrassing’ by frequent travellers.

“Given the fact that air traffic is increasing day by day and with our security apparatus not being up to the mark to meet that flow, there are definitely a lot of issues we face at airports,” said a highly placed source in civil aviation industry.

“In India, you go through a metal detector and then you come across a person who again scans you with his hands and a handheld detector. But when you go to west or even Dubai, the metal detector is now improved to a level that if you go through it and it doesn’t beep, nobody questions you thereafter,” he said.

The source also questioned the need for checking a passenger’s boarding pass on different occasions before boarding an aircraft in India. “There are far too many security levels at airports in India. For example, when you enter the terminal building, you have a security person to check your boarding pass