Chennai airport receives 25 international flights and an equal number of departures daily.
Chennai:
Chennai airport has earmarked the ground floor of its T4 terminal to accommodate international arrivals from “at-risk” countries, where they will await the results of their RT-PCR tests. The new screening process will come into effect from midnight in the background of the new COVID variant Omron.
“It will accommodate around 500 passengers at any given time,” an airport official said.
“Passengers will have free telephone facility for TV calling, foreign exchange services, food and beverage service and entertainment as they await their results,” said airport director Mr. Sharad Kumar.
Chennai airport receives at least 25 international flights and the same number of departures daily.
On the system to avoid rush to get tested, Mr. Kumar explained “Passengers can book tests online before departure or even on arrival and they will be tested in the same order. A simple QR code system and even That cash is also a payment option for those who are not tech savvy”.
Visuals showed rows of seats at the airport, with the middle seats left empty, in addition to a refreshment dispenser, landline phone and TV screens.
“The airport has sought the help of police inside and outside the airport to ensure that no untoward incident takes place,” another official said.
In September this year, there was chaos at the airport as hundreds of passengers thronged the immigration and testing areas, compromising on Covid protocols. At the time, officials attributed this to too many flights and inadequate infrastructure.
The new screening requires mandatory RT-PCR testing for travelers from at-risk countries. Those who test positive will have to be quarantined at a government facility and tested afresh after eight days. Others will be tested if they alone are symptomatic. Two percent passengers will also be identified for random testing.
This time too, the bunching of flights will continue, but officials are not anticipating overcrowding as only passengers from “at risk” countries are required to be tested.
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