New Delhi: Airport security checks could get an additional layer with full-body scanners that can identify concealed objects, including items that conventional metal detectors may not detect. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is testing the technology and examining how accurately it works under Indian airport conditions.
Trials are being conducted at Bengaluru and Cochin airports, where the regulator is recording data such as the number of alarms generated during screening. The director general of BCAS, Rajesh Nirwan, said the findings will be assessed and the scanners’ algorithms refined before decisions are taken on wider deployment, PTI reported.
He also said full-body scanners have been mandated for eight airports, although the government has not publicly specified the full list.
The civil aviation secretary, Samir Kumar Sinha, told India Today that the scanners would be rolled out at eight airports in the first phase. He said machines had already been delivered to three airports, while the remaining five would receive them soon.
Full-body scanners are already being used on a trial basis at Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Cochin airports, with pilot testing having started earlier this year, according to India Today. A 2024 written reply in Parliament had identified Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad for the first phase of planned deployment, but that earlier list does not by itself confirm the current eight-airport rollout.
The move comes after the Flydubai cockpit incident, in which the Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, was injured while confronting his co-pilot on a Tel Aviv-bound flight. The co-pilot apparently attempted to crash the aircraft. The civil aviation minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, said India would take further steps to strengthen security based on the investigation and Flydubai’s preliminary report.
Full-body scanners can detect objects concealed on a person’s body, including non-metallic items that conventional metal detectors may miss. The systems use millimetre-wave technology to scan passengers without physical contact or removal of clothing. They can flag the area where a concealed object may be present, allowing security personnel to carry out further checks.
The technology is also being adapted to address privacy concerns and improve accuracy in Indian airport conditions. Sinha said the scanners would be “picture agnostic”, meaning they would not produce an image of a passenger’s actual body but would display a generic representation and show the location of a detected object.
The rollout is part of wider BCAS reforms announced by the civil aviation ministry to make aviation security processes simpler, faster and more technology-driven. In its X post on the reforms, the ministry said the changes focus on simplification, accountability, transparency and trust, while maintaining aviation security standards.