Delhi international airport has planned a list of measures including UV machines for luggage, hourly disinfection drive by 500 people, and daily deep cleaning of terminals to handle the COVID-19 situation after the lockdown.

As of now, the countrywide lockdown in India is set to end on May 3. However, passenger air traffic in India will remain suspended until the government releases an official notification in this regard.

Delhi airport, which has also emerged as a major hub for the distribution of essential goods and medical items, is now trying to implement measures that will minimise human contact in the post-lockdown days.

It has planned to deploy additional queue managers at the kerbside (city side), check-in halls, security check areas, and boarding gates, with social distancing markers/reminders. All passengers will be encouraged to wear masks and maintain social distancing at all times.

The airport has also planned to put visually impactful designs at various places to make social distancing more effective among passengers.

In line with this, the airport has put signage in coloured tape at various standpoints and staggered seating arrangements with different markers have been positioned on alternate chairs to maintain gap.

Additional seating arrangements will also be done in check-in area for passengers near the check-in counters, security areas, and near Immigration, the airport said in its post-lockdown strategy paper.

The airport is also conducting daily deep cleaning of its premises covering 6,08,000 square Meters of the airport terminals. A team 500 professionals have been deployed to carry out Frequent disinfection drive after every hour.

Regular sanitization of high contact surfaces, such as desks, chairs, elevators, railings, CUSS, trolleys, handles, trays, baggage belts, etc. inside the terminals will also continue.

To ensure hygiene, washrooms will be closed after every Hour to sanitize all its surface and the airport will also install auto-dispensing sanitizers in the terminals.

Passengers will be encouraged to check-in at home or use self-service facilities such as self-check-in facility, self bag tag facility, scan & fly, etc and the airport also plans to disinfect trolleys after each use.

Social distancing will also be implemented in the environments in food courts, lounges, and shops and the airport will also have facilities to isolate suspected COVID-19 passengers at the airport.

Airport staff will be screened by the airport's security staff at various entry points and will be provided with adequate protective equipment, including masks and gloves.

“The Delhi Airport is also conducting training and assessments of key service personnel, run checks on major facilities, and performing risk evaluations to prepare for resuming operations,” said CEO-DIAL Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.

The GMR Group led, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) is a consortium; comprising of GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, and Fraport. It is the largest airport in the country in terms of passenger traffic.