A sudden bounty of passenger facilities at the city's Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport is in place to make fliers' experience a pleasant one.

A self-service check-in kiosk started operating at the city airport from Thursday, which allows domestic passengers to print their e-tickets on reaching the airport. Once key details, such as the flight number, the airline and the passenger name record (PNR), have been keyed in, a hard copy of the boarding pass can be printed.

However, there are two flaws in the new system. First, only two airlines - Jet Airways and IndiGo - are connected with the check-in kiosk at present. Second, fliers with check-in luggage would still need to get their luggage checked-in at the counter of the respective airline.

Apart from the check-in kiosk, the terminal building is also set to join the league of modern airports elsewhere in the country, which are equipped with Wi-Fi facility for fliers. The bidding process to choose a firm for installing the Wi-Fi facility at the airport is already underway and it is expected to be commissioned within a month.

City-based hotel Patliputra Exotica has set up a reservation counter in the arrivals area at the airport. Paras HMRI Hospital plans to open a state-of-the-art counter at the terminal building to provide medical assistance to needy fliers.

The new self check-in kiosk is located near the baggage X-ray kiosks inside the terminal building and can be used by any passenger who has booked a flight online. "The self-service kiosk at the airport has been installed by SITA - an aviation information and technology service provider. The kiosk reduces check-in time by more than half and it would prove to be a boon, especially for fliers who made last-minute bookings and have only electronic versions of their flight booking details," said Sono Marandi, the airport director.

Marandi added though only one self check-in kiosk has been commissioned at the city airport, a few more would be installed in near future.

Aviation experts claimed that this facility is available only for domestic flights in the country.

"Though the self check-in facility at Patna airport is a welcome step, its success would depend on how many fliers actually use it. My observation is that the share of outbound fliers with check-in luggage at Patna airport is much higher than those with only cabin luggage. As the self check-in kiosk does not have the facility of luggage check-in, all those passengers would still need to go to the check-in counters of the respective airlines," said Atul Singh, the executive director of the Delhi-based Centre for Aviation, Policy, Safety and Research.

Suggesting ways to make the self check-in more efficient, Atul said: "Airlines would need to provide an assistant or volunteer at the kiosk to assist the fliers in using the machine. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) can conduct passenger awareness programmes as run in Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Bangalore's Kempegowda International Airport."

On steps to start the Wi-Fi facility at the city airport, director Marandi said: "Routers would be installed inside the terminal building at several places for transmission of signals. Any flier with Internet-enabled devices such as laptops and cellphones among others would be able to use it. The decision on whether the facility would be chargeable or free would be taken soon."

The Wi-Fi facility is provided free for the first 30 minutes in most airports of the country after which the user is required to pay fixed charges.

"Airtel and one more firm have submitted bids against the tender we floated. The financial opening of the bids would be held on Friday. Accordingly, we expect to commence the facility within a month," said Marandi.