New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- Three Italian nationals managed to board a Lufthansa flight from Delhi to Munich without completing the mandatory immigration clearance, prompting the civil aviation ministry to seek detailed answers from Air India over the apparent procedural lapse. The three passengers - Surjit Singh, Balwinder Kaur and Gurdev Singh - had travelled from Amritsar to Delhi on an Air India flight on September 4. After arriving at Delhi airport, they were supposed to complete immigration formalities before boarding their international flight to Munich. Instead, they were directed towards the international-to-international (I-to-I) transfer area and subsequently boarded the Lufthansa flight.
The incident has raised questions about how the passengers were handled during their transfer from the domestic to international section of the airport. The government has specifically sought an explanation from Air India on why the passengers, who were travelling on the domestic Amritsar-Delhi sector, were allowed to enter the I-to-I transfer area. The passengers had been issued "D" boarding passes for their Amritsar-Delhi journey. According to the ministry's questions, they should not have been treated as international-to-international transfer passengers, who are identified by an "I" indicator. The government is seeking to establish how the passengers were allowed to proceed through the wrong transfer channel. Another issue under scrutiny is the issuance of Lufthansa boarding passes at Amritsar. The ministry has questioned why Air India issued the passengers their onward boarding passes for the international flight at the originating airport, as the approved hub-and-spoke procedure does not provide for such an onward boarding pass to be issued at the spoke airport.
The authorities are also examining the roles of Air India and SATS personnel who handled and escorted the passengers at both Amritsar and Delhi airports. The government has sought details about the responsibilities of the staff involved and the role of Air India's nodal officer in the process. The incident is particularly significant because Amritsar is among the airports where the hub-and-spoke system has been introduced for passengers connecting to international flights. Under the system, passengers travelling from a designated spoke airport to an international destination through a hub are expected to complete immigration at the originating airport, while the transfer process at the hub involves security checks before the onward international flight. In this case, however, the passengers were travelling from Amritsar to Delhi before taking the international flight to Munich. The apparent mishandling meant that they reached the international departure area without undergoing the required immigration process.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a show-cause notice to Air India and sought an explanation for the lapse. The matter has also prompted an urgent meeting involving officials from the home and civil aviation ministries and other stakeholders to examine how the passengers were able to leave the country without completing the mandatory immigration procedure. The episode has raised wider concerns over coordination between airlines, airport personnel and immigration authorities, particularly as India expands hub-and-spoke connectivity. Authorities are now examining the sequence of events and the responsibilities of the personnel involved to determine how the established procedures were bypassed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.