India is improving the airport's amenities to help with the year-end travel crunch

    REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/Files

NEW DELHI: As the holiday season approaches, a rush in travel that this week swamped India's biggest airport abated after officials increased staff and security measures to deal with the increase in travelers.

At the main domestic and international terminal of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, travelers waited in line for hours to check in and go through security, which caused some flight delays.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of civil aviation, declared that Terminal 3 now has more x-ray equipment and personnel. On a video posted on Thursday, travelers appeared to check in easily.

Additional steps, he claimed, were also being implemented at other airports, including those in Bengaluru, India, and Mumbai, a city in the west.

"All agencies have taken steps in the previous 24 to 36 hours to reduce congestion at every checkpoint at all significant airports. There is less congestion at the T3 check-in desks and admission points "Scindia wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

A request for comment was not answered by GMR Group, an Indian infrastructure firm that is the head of the conglomerate that owns and runs the airport.

As COVID-19 limitations have loosened, air travel in India has increased similarly to other nations.

IndiGo (INGL.NS), the largest airline in India, asked passengers to be at Delhi airport for check-in at least 3-1/2 hours before their flight instead of the customary two hours due to the congestion at the airport. According to a Reuters journalist who was traveling from Terminal 3, several airlines had to postpone flights.

December is a busy month for international aviation, and after two years of restricted travel due to the epidemic, traffic is anticipated to be greater this year.