The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has received more than two dozen hoax calls recently, costing the airlines and security agencies crores of rupees.
Senior security officials said that the current security plan makes the IGI airport an easy target, when it comes to a Brussels-like terror attack.
The CISF, too, said that the IGIA was not built in a manner to facilitate security checks before entry into the airport. The officials said that change in the security plan would require complete overhauling of the terminals; otherwise it would make the airport more vulnerable to terror attacks.
As per available data, more than a dozen cases were registered pertaining to hoax calls at the IGIA police station under Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation this year, but only two callers have been traced so far.
“The International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency, provides for three kinds of security plans to be followed worldwide. At the IGI airport we follow the Security Hold Area plan – wherein a passenger is allowed to walk up to the check-in counters, where he/she undergoes a thorough frisking. The concourse plan – where a passenger is not allowed to enter the terminal without frisking – is followed in India only at the Srinagar airport,” said a senior CISF officer.
According to them the agency might opt for the concourse plan at IGIA, but it would require a complete overhaul of the terminals.
“At IGIA, if a concourse plan is implemented it would cause long queues outside the terminals, causing traffic snarls. This would make the airport even more vulnerable, as it would allow easy access and escape routes to the trouble makers due to the open area. The CISF would then require additional deployment to form another security ring beyond the circulating area. Therefore, at present no such change in plan is on the anvil,” the officer said.
The hoax calls have caused hefty losses to the airlines, which claim that every time an aircraft is grounded it is a loss of Rs 2 crore approximately.
“From arranging for meals and accommodation for the flyers to providing them with alternate flights, an airline goes through all kinds of trouble when a terror threat is reported on one of its flights. Passengers remain our priority and all the efforts to maintain their comfort are made. Every disruption in a flight schedule due to a terror alert costs an airline Rs 1.5 to 2.5 crore at an average,” said an airline’s spokesperson.
