Key airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have a shortage of more than 4,000 security personnel, an internal government study has shown. This is set to add to delays for air passengers for the rest of the year as government agencies expect the situation to ease only by the end of 2024.
As per the study, conducted by the aviation ministry, there is a shortage of over 1,300 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at Delhi airport alone, against a sanctioned strength of around 6,200, and a gap of over 1,000 CISF against a sanctioned strength of more than 3,700 for Bengaluru airport.
A shortfall of over 800 each for Chennai and Kolkata airports – against a sanctioned strength of over 2,000 personnel each — and a gap of more than 150 personnel for Mumbai airport, which has a sanctioned strength of more than 4,100, complete the picture.
The shortfall not only raises security concerns but also causes inconvenience to travellers in terms of delays due to long queues at entry gates and at security checks.
The need for such assessments was felt by the government after passengers complained of delays at security counters during the peak summer travel season, and during the winter travel season too last year.
Overall, the study also estimates a need for more than 5,000 CISF personnel across 15 major airports by the end of 2024, in line with the growing air traffic that is set to hit new records on the back of aircraft addition plans by airlines and rising disposable income in the country.
As per data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Indian airlines carried a record 152 million passengers in 2023. That’s 23% more than in 2022 and 5% higher than the pre-covid year of 2019, which was the record year till 2023.
For January-April, domestic air traffic was recorded at 52.3 million passengers, 4% higher than the same period last year. The latest international data from the Airports Authority of India show that international passenger traffic at Indian airports for 2023-24 (Apr-Mar) grew 22% over the year-ago period to 69.64 million passengers.
