CSMIA, the first Indian airport to achieve ACI Health Accreditation, retains the spot as the first airport to be re-accredited for the second consecutive year
Mumbai: With the increasing need for airports across the globe to rebuild their health and safety infrastructure, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has yet again proved its mettle by achieving the accreditation under the Airport Council of India’s (ACI) Health Accreditation Programme. After achieving the accreditation in the year 2020, becoming India’s first airport to achieve the accredited status, CSMIA has continued to consistently demonstrate its commitment to prioritising the health and safety practices in a measurable and established manner to the passengers, government, and the regulators alike.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the past year and more has propelled businesses to step up their health and safety infrastructure that were previously in place. With an aim to meet the demands of a more safe and secure airport experience for the passengers, CSMIA, throughout the course of the pandemic ensured a robust health and safety mechanism was put in place. The safety measures taken at the airport have been carefully curated in line with the state and central government mandates with a strict adherence to the health and safety regulations as necessitated by the authorities. Meanwhile, prominent international aviation bodies have also put in place recommendations for the healthy upkeep of the operations at the airports across. The Airport Health Accreditation (AHA) Programme launched by ACI in July 2020, assesses the new health measures and procedures adopted by airports because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) recommendations, the programme assesses procedures like cleaning and disinfection, physical distancing, staff protection, physical layout, passenger communications and passenger facilities. In this light, the re-accreditation stands as a testament to the sustained efforts at CSMIA to maintain the industry best practices as a marker of the continued confidence of the passengers in CSMIA’s health and safety infrastructure.
The safety initiatives put in place at CSMIA touched upon all possible aspects of the safety measures necessary under the prevailing circumstances. From stringent screening, social distancing, mandatory compliance with wearing PPEs and required gears, sanitisation and disinfection processes were carefully put in place and strictly followed at the airport premise. Simultaneously, CSMIA incorporated technology as a key component of the safety measures. The contactless experience throughout the airport through self-check-in kiosks, e-boarding passes, promoted the remote model of functioning at the airport. While installation of glass partitions on all counters, strategic placement of hand sanitisers at all touchpoints, sanitisation of cabs across the airports, were a few more measures maintained throughout this period.
The increased vaccination rates and the easing of travel restrictions would lead to a further surge in air travel at this juncture and the airports need to take proactive measure to keep themselves ready for the forthcoming traffic. CSMIA has long enjoyed the trust of its passengers in providing the best-in-class health & hygiene practice, and the recent accreditation further goes to build the faith of the passengers.