Aviation Explained: Why Airlines Perform SLPC At Airports Despite CISF Security Check?

The Indian Aviation industry is growing at a rapid pace, becoming the third largest domestic market globally. As per the DGCA data, more than 3.75 crore people travelled on domestic flights in India in a three month period of January-March 2023, registering a growth of almost 57 percent. Despite such a high influx of air travellers, India is one of the safest nations when it comes to the aviation safety. In fact, India retained its Category 1 status under the United States Federal Aviation Administration's aviation safety assessment programme, recently.

The safety of airports and airlines in India come under the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), which is an independent body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, taking care of all things related to security of India's aviation industry. It was initially a part of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The safety in most of the airports in India is taken care by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

However, a recent tweet regarding a safety check by an airline ground staff has sparked a debate on the Elon Musk-run social media site Twitter. A journalist posted a photograph of an IndiGo ground staff employee frisking passengers with a metal detector before boarding the bus at the Terminal 1 of the Delhi Airport. As per the Twitter user, this security check is "unnecessary" when the CISF Security Gate check is already completed. 

He even tagged the Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiradiya Scindia on the post, who replied to the user, saying, "Will look into this." While many users supported his claim, others refuted it by saying this safety check is mandated by BCAS and is called Secondary Ladder Point Security (SLPC). 

At Delhi T-1, ⁦@IndiGo6E⁩ inexplicably frisking each passenger with a metal detector before you board the bus! Seems they don’t trust the CISF Security Gate check. Unnecessary and does the airline even have this mandate? ⁦@JM_Scindia⁩ pic.twitter.com/3WPZRw8eGN — Aman Sharma (@AmanKayamHai_) April 15, 2023

Secondary Ladder Point Security

The Secondary Ladder Point Security (SLPC) is a secondary level security procedure mandated by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under which the airline staff have to frisk passengers and their hand-luggage after the security clearance from the CISF, just before boarding the aircraft. The SLPC was mandated after the attack at the Pathankot airbase in 2016 and hijack alerts sounded by intelligence agencies during the same period. 

The SLPC is mostly for the airlines who take their passengers to the aircraft on a bus to the parked aircraft. This means, airlines like IndiGo, Go First and SpiceJet, who board their flights from Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 of Delhi Airport, with limit aerobridge access, undertake the SLPC procedure.

Under this, the airline stagg frisk the passengers and their cabin bags using hand held metal detectors, just like the ones used by the CISF at airports. In certain situation when the security alert is high, especially on occasions like Republic Day, the SLPC can take place at the aerobridge as well.

Many fliers and airline officials believe the SLPC is a time-consuming and tedious effort, forcing the fliers to reach airport hours before departure.