Here's why you may no longer need a boarding pass 

New Delhi: 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 -- the Central Industrial Security Force -- told news agency PTI in an interview that they have begun "exploring" the technology that is required to usher in the boarding card-less system of air travel at the 59 airports that 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 are working on two projects. The first is how to introduce integrated security solutions at airports," CISF Director General O P Singh told the news agency PTI. "You need to connect all dots that exist within the security establishment. You have so many strategies to do it. You have the biometrics, video analytics and a very robust access control system," Singh added. "We will try to interconnect all these things in a very integrated fashion," Singh said.

INITIATIVES AT HYDERABAD AIRPORT
The Director-General, an IPS officer of the 1983 batch, said doing away with the boarding card system is part of this process and project and a recent initiative launched at the Hyderabad airport for 'express check-in' of passengers is an example in that direction. "We may do away with boarding cards too. But, that depends on how strong I become (with regard to technology-based security systems)," Singh said. The DG said the launch of the new system at the Hyderabad airport is for "every" stakeholder in the airport security to see and that it was a "shining example" when it comes to bringing in smart systems and take new steps to ensure smooth and hassle-free movement of passengers at airports. As part of the system unveiled at the Hyderabad airport recently, domestic passengers after printing a boarding pass from 'self-service kiosks' at departures forecourt area outside the terminal building, can straight head to express security check lane without getting into the check-in area and then go towards the boarding area.

SMART AIR TRAVEL
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 while talking about the future course of action vis-a-vis smart air travel. The DG of the 1.80-lakh personnel strong paramilitary force said that there could be many ways to make air travel more secure and easy for passengers, at the same time. "We have noted that our time for frisking (passengers) has lessened and this is certainly below the global level. We have our own strategies to deal with passengers during peak time. Our frisking time is certainly better than global standards of the world," he said, adding that this time is not more than 12 minutes.

MAKING AIR TRAVEL PASSENGER FRIENDLY
The CISF, along with other agencies like the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Ministry of Civil Aviation, has recently started a passenger-friendly system of doing away with tagging and stamping of hand baggage tags for both domestic and international air