New Delhi, India: India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has launched a series of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) reforms to simplify and speed up aviation security processes at Indian airports, including digital Aerodrome Entry Permits (AEPs), facial biometric verification and streamlined security clearances.
The reforms were outlined during a media briefing in New Delhi on 2 October 2026 by Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha and BCAS Director General Rajesh Nirwan. According to the official Ministry account, the measures are intended to improve operational efficiency and ease of doing business while maintaining aviation security standards.
Sinha said the reforms would focus on digitising workflows and simplifying processes, “These sweeping changes aim to digitise workflows, making processes simpler, and transition towards accountability-driven governance while maintaining the highest security standards.”
Under the revised framework, BCAS is moving towards a category- and contract-agnostic security clearance applicable across nine identified categories of aviation entities.
The proposed clearance will remain valid for five years, according to MoCA. BCAS has also introduced a more structured and time-bound approach to the security vetting of airport infrastructure. The revised process will focus on obtaining and communicating necessary clarifications at one stage, prescribing timelines for different stages and strengthening monitoring of pending cases.
A key reform is the digitisation of the Aerodrome Entry Permit system, which governs access for authorised personnel to restricted airport areas.
MoCA said BCAS has initiated an end-to-end digital workflow covering online registration and application, document submission, digital scrutiny and verification, defined approval workflows and digital issuance, along with facial biometric verification.
The system is being implemented as a common platform across all 169 airports.
BCAS Director General Rajesh Nirwan told reporters that the system handles around 15 lakh entry permits annually, making manual processing and monitoring increasingly difficult, “The Entry Permits are now touching 15 lakh every year across all airports, making it difficult to process and monitor these applications in a manual format. To overcome this problem, we plan to make it all digital.”
Nirwan said the system would be “contactless and paperless”, removing the need for applicants to visit BCAS offices, and that it would be rolled out simultaneously across the country’s 169 airports.
He said the digital process would also improve transparency by allowing applicants to track their applications and enabling centralised monitoring of pending cases, “It will improve control and compliance and lead to faster processing,” Nirwan said.
Facial biometric verification will form part of the new AEP system. Nirwan said the technology would make the process faster and more secure.
Separately, BCAS is also progressing with the deployment of full-body scanners at eight airports. The trials were underway at Bengaluru and Cochin, with authorities collecting data on alarms generated by the equipment before wider deployment decisions.
Nirwan said the newer scanners are being made “image agnostic”, displaying a generic representation rather than an actual image of the passenger and identifying the area where a suspicious object may have been detected.
BCAS is also working with scanner manufacturers to refine detection algorithms for Indian operating conditions. Nirwan said some algorithms were originally designed for foreign markets and were being adjusted to account for items commonly worn by people in India, including jewellery, which can contribute to false alarms.
The reforms extend beyond AEPs. Nirwan said security programmes, security vetting, audits, inspections and training would also be digitised as part of the broader effort to reduce paperwork and speed up approvals.
The Ministry said the reforms come as India’s aviation sector continues to expand. India is now the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market, while the number of operational airports increased from 74 in 2014 to 165 in July 2026, according to MoCA.
MoCA said the reforms are part of the broader Viksit Bharat @2047 vision and are aimed at building a future-ready aviation security regulatory framework capable of keeping pace with the country’s rapidly expanding aviation sector.
The measures therefore combine regulatory changes with digital access-control systems and technology-based screening, with BCAS seeking faster processing, centralised monitoring and stronger compliance while maintaining aviation security standards.
