CISF plans to do away with boarding passes

CISF PROPOSAL COMES AT A TIME WHEN THERE HAVE BEEN TALKS OF USING AADHAAR FOR STARTING A BIOMETRIC ENTRY OF PASSENGERS

NEWDELHI: After doing away with hand baggage tags at over a dozen airports, aviation security agencies are now planning to dump the boarding pass collection system and begin a regime of ‘express check-in’ aided by biometrics for smooth air travel.

The chief of the country’s airport security force — Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) — said they have begun “exploring” the technology required to usher in the boarding card-less system of air travel at the 59 airports it guards at present and at the rest of such civil facilities that are going to come under its umbrella as part of a “unified command” in the future.

“We may do away with boarding cards too. But, that depends on how strong I become (with regard to technology- based security systems). The Hyderabad airport is the only airport in the country that is totally biometric. We are trying to explore this system for all airport” CISF director general OP Singh said.

The CISF’S plans come at a time when there have been talks of using identities like Aadhaar and others for starting biometric entry system of passengers at airports. It plans to not only introduce a system like the Hyderabad airport but also work towards doing away with the boarding pass with the help of biometrics.

“I can assure the airport operators and others in the aviation domain that the CISF is all prepared and ready to facilitate these new systems,” Singh said

The director general said there could be many other ways to make air travel more secure and easy for passengers, at the same time.