Chennai: International passengers no longer need to queue-up to scan their bags before checking in as the airport has introduced an in-line x-ray baggage scanning system at the international terminal.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is implementing the system at Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Calicut and Srinagar. Chennai is the second airport to have the system after Ahmedabad. The system has been introduced at a cost of Rs 12 crore.

The airport’s scanning system has two in-line x-ray machines. Each line can handle 1,200 bags per hour, said a press release. The bags will pass through four levels of detection and the screener will get five images of the same bag from different angles. Staff will monitor the bags from six workstations and a supervisor will oversee the operations.

In-line baggage scanning was implemented after a month’s trial and the screeners are trained and certified by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security. There will be four sets of inline baggage scanning systems for the new terminals being constructed. The new system is two and-a-half times faster than individual x-ray scanning machines. The passenger halls will have more space after the x-ray machines are removed.