Airlines (Commonwealth Union)_Aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has asked all seven Indian airlines to deliver baggage to the passengers at airports withing 30 minutes of landing. This rule will be implemented from 26th February and airlines- Air India, Indigo, AIX Connect, Akasa, SpiceJet, Vistara, and Air India Express, have been told to follow the directive. This comes as BCAS monitored the time of arrival of baggage at six major airports- Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru in January. The directions were given by Jyotiraditya Scindia – Civil Aviation minister.
It was stated in an official statement on Sunday, that BCAS has asked the airlines to implement the required measures to ensure timely delivery of baggage by 26th February.
The civil aviation ministry issued a statement that at present, monitoring continues at six major airports.
The ministry informed that however, BCAS had directed the airlines to ensure that the mandated levels are achieved in all airports where they fly, these requirements being part of OMDA (operation, management and delivery agreement). The same have been signed with major airports such as Mumbai and Delhi by the Airports Authority of India, at the time of privatisation around 20 years ago.
Airlines have to ensure that delivery is made within 30 minutes of the last baggage, as per the Service Quality Requirements of Operation, Management and Delivery Agreement (OMDA).
Under the instructions of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, in January 2024, BCAS has been monitoring the arrival of baggage at belts of six major airports.
The statement said Mandates require the first baggage to arrive at the baggage belt within 10 minutes of shutting off the aircraft engine and the last bag within 30 minutes of the same.
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Finnair has started asking passengers to volunteer and they are being given a free baggage tag if they agree to be weighed at the gate.
Another airline has started asking its passengers to volunteer to step on the scales before boarding.
Finnair is now collecting the weights of its passengers on a volunteer basis as part of its “aircraft balance calculations.” The airline is asking for people to be weighed along with their hand luggage at the departure gate, so that the airline could update its average weights, as required by the civil aviation authority.
Passengers’ names or booking numbers are not recorded along with their weight.
The Guardian reported citing a Finnair spokesperson, that 600 passengers have volunteered to be weighed, as of Wednesday. Volunteers who agreed to be weighed were being compensated with a complimentary baggage tag.
Participants are not being asked for their booking number or name. “Only the customer service agent working at the measuring point can see the total weight, so you can participate in the study with peace of mind,” Munnukka said.
The data will be collected in February, April, and May for a variety of flights departing from Finnair’s hub in Helsinki, the airline said.
Finnair uses its own passenger weight measurements, according to the statement, and authorities require that the data is updated every five years, the last round of data being collected between 2017 and 2018.
Its own data on passenger weight is collected by The European Aviation Safety Authority, for aircraft mass and balance calculations. In 2022, its latest study, showed that average passenger weight did not significantly increase or decrease since the last study in 2009.
Air New Zealand, Hawaiian Airlines and Korean Air have made similar requests of passengers in the past year, to better understand average weights for safety. Uzbekistan Airlines began weighing passengers in 2015 for the same reason.
