DGCA issues show-cause notice to Air India as 3 Italian passengers skip immigration at Delhi airport, fly out; Home Ministry summons urgent meeting
PTC News Desk: The Director General of Civil Aviation has issued a show cause notice to the Air India after three Italian passengers boarded a flight from Delhi to Munich without completing immigration formalities earlier this month.
The three passengers had travelled from Amritsar to Delhi on an Air India flight on September 4 and were subsequently booked on a Lufthansa flight to Munich.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has called an urgent meeting of senior officials from the home and civil aviation and other stakeholders on Tuesday over the procedural lapses.
The meeting comes after the Union ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) issued a show-cause notice to Air India on September 12, following concerns raised by the MHA over the airline’s handling of the passengers.
The incident took place on September 4.
“The home ministry has called for a meeting of the stakeholders at 7pm in Kartavya Bhawan (MHA office) to discuss the incident on Tuesday,” an official said.
What happened at Delhi airport
The three Italian passengers were given boarding passes at Amritsar for both their flight to Delhi and their connecting Lufthansa flight to Munich, according to sources.
Air India follows a ‘Hub-and-Spoke’ model on some routes, including certain flights from Amritsar. Under this system, passengers travelling abroad through a hub airport can complete their immigration formalities at the originating, or ‘spoke’, airport.
After reaching the hub, passengers only need to go through security checks before boarding their international flight.
However, the Amritsar-Delhi and Delhi-Munich flights involved in this case were not covered under this arrangement.
The passengers were therefore supposed to leave the arrival area at Delhi airport and complete immigration before going to their Lufthansa flight.
Instead, after landing in Delhi, they were directed to the international transfer area. As a result, they did not reach the immigration counter before boarding their flight to Munich, the sources said.
- PTC NEWS
