Three foreign nationals depart Delhi airport without clearing immigration, Air India cited

Three Italian nationals travelled from Delhi to Munich without going through immigration at the Delhi airport on September 4, which has prompted the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to issue a show cause notice to Air India, according to sources in the know. The three passengers had taken an Air India “hub-and-spoke” flight on the night of September 3 from Amritsar to Delhi, after which they boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich early on September 4 without going through immigration.

Under the hub-and-spoke arrangement, also known as ‘Easy Connect’, Air India passengers flying overseas via Delhi from select domestic airports can clear immigration at the origin airport, and then take the Air India international flight from the Delhi airport without having to go through immigration at Delhi.

For such passengers, the boarding pass for the first flight has a special designator code I, which means they can head directly to the departure gate for the international flight after landing at the Delhi airport. For others, the boarding pass for the domestic flight has a designator D, requiring them to technically exit the arrivals at Delhi.

The designator codes allow the airline and other authorities to differentiate the Easy Connect passengers from others. According to sources, in this instance, of the three Italian nationals were not eligible for the Easy Connect service and were supposed to exit at Delhi and go through immigration again for their Lufthansa flight to Munich.

Prima facie, it appears to be a case of oversight and confusion, with these passengers directly heading to the boarding gate for the next flight, along with the Easy Connect passengers, as per a source. Their boarding cards for the Delhi-Munich flight were issued at the Amritsar airport.

Lufthansa and Air India have a codeshare partnership. After the incident came to light following manual reconciliation of passenger data, MoCA on Saturday (September 12) issued a show cause notice to Air India, giving the airline seven days to respond, it is learnt. The Tata group carrier has not responded yet, sources said.

Air India didn’t comment on the incident and the show cause notice. Also Read | Drug test for pilots across airlines after Air India’s Phuket incident MoCA has sought the airline’s response on various counts, including how passengers with the D designator on their boarding passes were able to move freely in the international transit area of the Delhi airport instead of being directed towards the arrivals area, it is learnt.

It has also asked Air India about the role of its ground handling agency AISATS in handling transfer passengers at the Delhi airport, and about the reconciliation of domestic and international passenger data for the incoming flight from Amritsar, which was evidently not done promptly.

Air India’s hub-and-spoke flights were launched with the government’s backing a few months ago to make one-stop domestic-to-international connections easy and hassle-free for flyers. The service is currently available from Varanasi, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad, with more airports expected to be added over time.

The programme allows passengers to complete check-in and immigration at the home departure airport instead of Air India’s main hub Delhi. Bags are also checked through to the overseas destination. Normally, any passenger taking a one-stop domestic-to-international transfer has to go through immigration at the port of departure for the international leg of the journey.