With the government’s new guidelines creating chaos at the airport for international passengers, the authorities have put in place measures to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers arriving from ‘at risk’ countries.
Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), which operates the Kempegowda International Airport in the city, is ramping up testing capacity to reduce the waiting time for passengers at the arrival terminal.
in the middle #OmicronVariant Fear #Bengaluru The airport enhances the COVID testing capacity of passengers arriving from at-risk countries and reduces waiting times. @indianexpress pic.twitter.com/sb5XioGTcN
— Darshan Devaiah BP (@DarshanDevaiahB) December 7, 2021
“Compulsory pass for passengers in keeping with the guidelines of the Government of India” COVID-19 Testing on Arrival, BIAL worked with lab partner Auriga Research Pvt Ltd to enhance testing capabilities and reduce waiting time for passengers at the terminal,” BIAL said in a statement.
Auriga Research Pvt Ltd, which was operating eight express RT-PCR machines, has now added 50 more, increasing its hourly testing capacity.
“BIAL is also working with Tata MD-Aster Labs, another COVID lab partner at the Bengaluru airport, to enhance capacity with advanced Tata Express PCR technology,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, international travelers who do not have a local SIM card to access the Internet can now avail free Wi-Fi at the airport for four hours. “In order to ensure that passengers can access the internet while waiting for their COVID results, it was increased from 45 minutes to four hours,” the officials said.
BIAL has increased the number of dedicated testing booths and seating with greater emphasis on safe distance. Food and beverage services are provided to all passengers.
“Priority on arrival is given to senior citizens, passengers with reduced mobility and mothers with infants. They have a dedicated testing counter and are the first to be tested from the incoming batch,” BIAL said.
“To decongest the arrival area, as many swab tests as possible are collected before immigration/customs checks so that passengers get their reports even before taking their luggage. All efforts are being made to minimize inconvenience by improving speed and efficiency. BIAL is working with airlines to encourage passengers to pre-register their swab test to reduce congestion on arrival,” the statement said.
BIAL is bearing the testing cost for 2 per cent of the international passengers, who will be randomly selected for testing. This is applicable for travelers coming from non-risk countries.
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