Mangalore airport introduces automatic number plate recognition system

The Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) has introduced the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system, enabling seamless entry and exit of vehicles to and from the airport. The ANPR system uses e-payment technology like FASTag, which takes care of the payments for the end user, a release from MIA said on Saturday.

The ANPR system reads the number plates of vehicles entering the airport through any of the four lanes at the entry booths. If a vehicle exits the airport within the mandated free passage time of 10 minutes, the boom barrier at the exit booths automatically opens. For those who need to park the vehicle beyond this time, one has the option to pay the prescribed parking fee – digitally or in cash at the central pay station near the flag post on the lower ground floor.

The advantage of paying the parking fee at the parking pre-payment counter is that a user gets additional 10 minutes of buffer time to exit the parking lot by scanning the receipt at the exit booth, the release said. There are multiple parking slots up to 30 minutes, up to two hours, for every additional two hours up to 8 hours, and for 8 hours up to 24 hours and beyond. This buffer time gives one the leeway of not having to pay the parking fee for the next slot, if applicable.

If one has chosen the FASTag mode of payment and entered the airport through the FASTag lane, such customers can experience seamless passage by exiting through the dedicated FASTag lane at the exit as well. The airport is in the process of covering all entry and exit lanes with FASTag technology.

Considering the need to facilitate faster movement of emergency response vehicles like ambulances and crash-fire tenders, the airport recently opened an additional emergency lane adjacent to lane one at the exit. This lane will allow faster movement of the response vehicles if there is a rush at the existing exit lanes, the release said.