New Delhi, July 18 (PTI): With security stepped up at airports after the Mumbai blasts, domestic airlines are advising passengers to arrive for flights early and avoid carrying hand baggage which would be subjected to secondary checks leading to delay in take-offs.

Such checks would be carried out at ladder points or at the aerobridges before a passenger boards the aircraft.

The carriers have also asked passengers to go for security checks immediately after checking in for a flight.

As “serious threat perceptions” continue, sources said all preventive measures would continue to be in place at all the airports across the country.

Civil aviation secretary Ajay Prasad and top officials of the bureau of civil aviation security and CISF have been regularly monitoring security arrangements at the airports and were also ensuring that flights were not unnecessarily delayed.

A large number of flights took off late at Delhi airport, a day after the new security procedures were put in place.

Besides banning visitors’ entry, the security arrangements include deployment of bomb disposal squads, sniffer dogs and sophisticated equipment. Sky marshals continue to be deployed on flights on selective routes.