Air India has been issued a show-cause notice following an immigration lapse involving three passengers at Delhi airport.
The three Italian passengers flew from Amritsar to Delhi on Air India flight AI-1115 on September 4, then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich without clearing immigration.
The Civil Aviation Ministry called it a ‘serious security and immigration-related lapse’, prompting the Ministry of Home Affairs to convene a stakeholder meeting.
Air India’s hub-and-spoke model allows some passengers to complete immigration at their origin airport, but the three were reportedly not travelling under an eligible connection.
The airline must formally respond to the notice, explaining the lapse and outlining its corrective steps.
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.
Under Air India’s hub-and-spoke model, passengers travelling from a spoke airport to an international destination through a hub can sometimes complete immigration formalities at the origin airport, but the three passengers were reportedly not travelling under an eligible Air India connection.
Air India aircraft, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
