Chennai airport gets self baggage drop facility

Eight self baggage drop kiosks have been set up in the T1 terminal, and IndiGo, which handles close to 60 per cent of the air passengers, has taken four of those, say AAI officials

According to officials of Airports Authority of India, eight self baggage drop kiosks have been set up in one of the domestic terminals. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

Chennai airport has finally got its first set of self baggage drop facility, with air passengers travelling by IndiGo airline using it now.

According to officials of Airports Authority of India (AAI), eight self baggage drop kiosks have been set up in one of the domestic terminals (T1), and IndiGo, which handles close to 60 per cent of the air passengers at the city airport, has taken four of them. These are available for passengers at designated counters 60-63.

“As the trial run we carried out with these kiosks for over a month was quite smooth, we decided to launch it. The rest of the machines in this terminal can be used by the other airlines like Akasa and SpiceJet, when they are prepared to integrate their system with this facility,” an official said.

Sources said, many of the frequent flyers and a few first-time flyers had been coming forward to use the facility in the past week.

“These are initial days and we have seen a fairly good response so far. Quite a few people who did not want to stand in the queue with their baggage opted for the facility. Nearly 100-125 persons have been using it on a daily basis. There are staff near these counters guiding the passengers on how to drop off their baggage. Those who do not exceed the permissible baggage weight limit can easily use it,” another official said.

Eight more such kiosks will be set up in the other domestic terminal (T4) in two months, officials added.