Bhubaneswar: The Biju Patnaik International Airport on Monday introduced self check-in kiosks at the domestic terminal to make air travel hassle free for fliers. In the first phase, five such kiosks have been made operational.

Airport director S.C. Hota said the facility would save precious time of fliers travelling with minimum luggage such as handbags. "With the new facility, the passengers can get their own boarding passes and even choose their own seats without standing in queue at check-in counters. This will increase the passenger handling capacity of the airport and expedite the check-in process."

A passenger needs to feed in their PNR number using the system's touchscreen and other details and select a seat of their choice from the seating chart to get a boarding pass in the new system. The pass will be generated and printed immediately.

Airport authorities said nearly 25 to 30 per cent air travellers are regular passengers and generally travel with minimal baggage, mostly handbags. However, most of the time, they are forced to wait in long queues in front of the check-in counters to get the boarding pass.

"Most other airports in the country have the facility for self check-in and we are delighted that a similar service has been started from the city airport," said Satyabrata Mohanty, a marketing executive and frequent flier.

"The self-service check-in kiosk at the airport terminal will definitely be helpful to passengers, who are carry only hand luggage. At the same time, it will save time of passengers," he said.

The airport registered a 39.4 per cent growth in passenger traffic in 2017-18 compared to 2016-17.