3 Italians Leave Delhi Without Immigration Check; Air India Faces Show-Cause Notice

Three Italian nationals travelling from Amritsar to Munich reportedly boarded an international flight from Delhi without completing mandatory immigration checks, prompting the Civil Aviation Ministry to seek an explanation from Air India.

The incident took place in the early hours of September 4 after the passengers arrived in Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 from Amritsar. The flight landed around 12:50 am, and the passengers later boarded Lufthansa flight LH-763 to Munich at about 1:45 am.

Air India Given Seven Days to Respond

The Civil Aviation Ministry issued a show-cause notice to Air India's CEO on September 12, asking why action should not be taken against the airline for the lapse.

Air India has been given seven days to submit its response. The ministry has warned that regulatory or administrative action could follow if the airline fails to respond within the stipulated period.

How the Passengers Bypassed Immigration

The incident appears to have resulted from a breakdown in the procedure used for passengers connecting from domestic flights to international services at Delhi.

The three passengers had been issued domestic, or D-category, boarding passes for their Amritsar-Delhi journey. However, they were also given boarding passes for their onward Lufthansa flight to Munich while still at Amritsar.

According to the ministry, Air India's D-I Operations Standard Operating Procedure does not provide for issuing such an additional boarding pass.

After arriving in Delhi, the passengers were taken from Gate 39 towards the International-to-International Transfer Area instead of being routed through immigration.

They subsequently reached the international departure area and boarded the Munich-bound flight without completing immigration clearance.

Five SOP Lapses Flagged

The ministry has identified five provisions of Air India's D-I Operations SOP that were allegedly not followed.

The first concerns boarding passes. Under the prescribed procedure, passengers are to be issued only the relevant D and I category boarding passes.

The second relates to the segregation of domestic and international passengers after disembarkation. The three passengers were not handled according to the required separation procedure.

The ministry also questioned how passengers holding D-category boarding passes were allowed access to the International-to-International Transfer Desk, which is meant for passengers with I-category boarding passes.

The remaining two concerns relate to the required 24-hour deployment of a nodal officer and monitoring team at hub and spoke airports. Their role includes ensuring that passengers do not reach international departures without completing the necessary formalities.

Ministry Seeks Details of Air India and SATS Staff

The show-cause notice asks Air India to explain how the three passengers entered the international transfer area despite holding domestic boarding passes.

The ministry has also sought details of why the onward Lufthansa boarding passes were issued at Amritsar and the roles played by Air India and SATS personnel involved in handling the passengers.

Questions have also been raised over the presence of the designated nodal officer and monitoring team at the time of the incident, as well as the reconciliation of domestic and international passengers at Delhi airport.

Immigration Records Also Under Scrutiny

The ministry has sought information on whether the General Declaration, Passenger Manifest and API-PNR data were supplied to immigration authorities on time and whether the passengers' status was correctly reflected in those records.

The key question is how three passengers recorded as domestic travellers were able to reach an international departure area and leave India without undergoing immigration clearance.

Lapse Detected Only After Manual Reconciliation

The passengers were not stopped before boarding their international flight. The discrepancy was reportedly detected later during a manual reconciliation process.

The ministry has questioned why the monitoring and reconciliation mechanisms failed to flag the passengers before they departed India.

The incident has put the spotlight on the safeguards used in India's hub-and-spoke aviation system, where passengers from smaller airports connect to international flights through major hubs such as Delhi.