DIAL starts testing of full-body scanner at Terminal 2 of Delhi Airport

In line with the directive of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security BCAS, Delhi International Airport Limited DIAL announced on Monday that it has started testing of the full-body scanner at the Terminal 2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

DIAL is a joint venture between GMR Group 54 per cent Airports Authority of India 26 per cent and Fraport AG Eraman Malaysia 10 per cent, which has installed a full-body scanner at the security check area.

One of the advanced full-body scanners were deployed at the Delhi International Airport, according to a statement by DIAL's CEO, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar. It takes care of passengers privacy during security checks, but it doesn't have any impact on their health. After successful completion of trials and the evaluation of results, DIAL would install a scanner as per the BCAS directive. A full-body scanner is a device that detects objects without making physical contact or breaching the privacy of passengers. Full-body scanners are able to detect non-metal objects that are hard to detect with the conventional door frame metal detector, unlike metal detectors.

By scanning passengers at the airport using a full-body scanner, one can reveal anything hidden beneath their clothes and reduce random pat-downs and strip searches, which ultimately helps personnel from an uncomfortable situation and speed up security checks.

In a public statement, the GMR Group stated that the trials would be conducted on a real-time basis i.e. During the security check, passengers would have to pass through it before they could be moved to the security hold area. The new scanner installed at Delhi Airport is a millimetre wave based scanner, which has medical approvals regarding health risks, and answers privacy issues completely, claims the company.

The real-time trials would be carried out for a period of up to 60 days, during which feedback from the BCAS, Central Industrial Security Force CISF DIAL, and passengers would be taken, examined, and evaluated.

After the completion of the trials, the findings would be shared with regulatory bodies for evaluation and the further course of action would be decided accordingly, it added.

In addition to this, the door-frame metal detectors would remain in place for special category passengers, such as those who are wheelchair-bound or cannot pass through the full-body scanners.