Paper boarding passes and handbag tags at airports may not be necessary from next month

If all goes well, you would soon be relieved of too many formalities at Indian airports. Paper boarding pass and paper handbag tags might soon be done away with. The aviation security regulator has decided to annul a 1982 rule that made it compulsory for airlines to keep a part to keep records of how many passengers boarded a flight.

In place of paper passes, there would be electronic boarding passes. To believe a senior official working with the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the final decision is likely to be announced early next month.
In sync with PM Modi’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, the passengers would need to flash the image of boarding pass on mobile phone at all clearance gates. For people without a smartphone, there would be an alternative for paper boarding pass.

"This rule (on paper boarding pass) is not relevant today because airports have computers and the passes are scanned anyway and that gives a sense on the number of people who have boarded the flight," the official told The Economic Times. "Tearing a part of the boarding pass is not required anymore. The authorities have agreed and soon the requirement will be withdrawn."
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad already has the process of e-boarding pass and the other airports may take it as example.
Also there would be no need to get handbag tags for cabin luggage, which is till date mandatory. The Central Industrial Security Force, which is in charge of security at airports did protest to the move earlier but have now agreed sighting convenience to the passengers.

Not just these. The aviation ministry is set to bring other reforms as well. Among which the most important is extending validity of entry passes (AEPs) for airline and airport executives. As of now, the authorities need to re-issue the entry passes every year, which is quite annoying. With biometric scan, this would be quite easy and secured.