The just-arrived CUTE counters at Patna airport. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Come December, boarding flights at the city airport would be a cakewalk with the introduction of the Common User Terminal Equipment (CUTE)-based checking-in system.

The consignment of the CUTE check-in terminals and kiosks has reached the city airport and installation work is going on at present. Sources claimed that the new system would be in place in the first week of December.

The Patna airport director in-charge, Sono Marandi, said: “The consignments of the equipment for the CUTE terminals and kiosks arrived at the airport here from Mumbai two days ago. Though I am not aware of the exact progress in the assembling work, we would get the CUTE system operational at the airport at the earliest.”

SITA, an aviation information and technology service provider, started the work for the installation of the CUTE system at Patna airport in the last week of May. Its objective is to speed up the checking in process.

The system would allow airlines to access reservation data at all counters, enabling passengers to check-in and get boarding passes at any kiosk instead of flocking at the dedicated airline counters. The CUTE kiosks would also allow self checking-in.

“The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is assembling the equipment that have come from Mumbai. It would take at least a week to make the counters and kiosks ready. Once they are in place, we would replace the 10 existing dedicated counters of different airlines with CUTE checking-in counters. Thereafter, we would take around a week to test the entire system as the groundwork related to the cable work and putting up LCD display screens have been completed,” said an executive of SITA at Patna airport.

Airlines are eagerly waiting for the introduction of the CUTE check-in system at the city airport.

“The CUTE system would reduce the overcrowding in the check-in area because we would be able to utilise the counters not being used by any other airline at rush hours. This would not only ensure comfort to the fliers but also bring down the delay in take-off of flights because of delayed check-in operations,” said an executive of a private airline at the airport.

The facility of busy hour boarding card reader would also be functional at the airport after the commencement of the operation of the CUTE system. Passengers would just have to place their boarding passes on top of the card reader at the departure gates to confirm their boarding.