Air India in trouble after passengers skip Delhi immigration

Air India is in regulatory trouble after three passengers skipped immigration checks at Delhi airport en route to an international connection.

The three Italian passengers flew Amritsar to Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 on September 4, then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich without immigration clearance.

The Civil Aviation Ministry termed the episode a ‘serious security and immigration-related lapse’, prompting a stakeholder meeting called by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Air India’s hub-and-spoke model allows some passengers to clear immigration at their origin airport, but the three were reportedly not travelling under an eligible connection.

The airline must now formally respond to the show-cause notice, detailing the lapse and its corrective measures.

Show-cause notices require airlines to formally respond to regulators explaining the lapse and the corrective steps being taken, with further action possible depending on the response.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport handles a significant share of India’s international transfer traffic, making procedural lapses there a particular concern for aviation security.

Airport immigration procedures are designed to ensure that international transfer passengers are properly screened and documented before entering a connecting flight’s international zone.

The incident adds to a series of recent regulatory scrutiny episodes involving Air India, ranging from flight delays to safety and operational reviews.

Indian aviation authorities have periodically tightened protocols at major hub airports following lapses of this kind, particularly involving cross-airline international connections.

The three passengers, identified as Surjit Singh, Balwinder Kaur and Gurdev Singh, had flown from Amritsar to Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 on September 4.

They subsequently boarded Lufthansa flight LH-763 from Delhi to Munich without completing mandatory immigration formalities at Delhi airport.

The Civil Aviation Ministry has termed the incident a ‘serious security and immigration-related lapse’ in its notice to the airline.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has called a meeting of key stakeholders to examine how the passengers were able to move into the international transfer area without completing immigration checks.

Air India aircraft, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0