MUMBAI- Three Italian nationals travelled from Amritsar (ATQ) to Delhi (DEL) on Air India (AI) before connecting to Lufthansa (LH) flight LH-763 for Munich (MUC) without completing mandatory immigration clearance.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a show-cause notice to Air India, seeking an explanation within seven days over alleged violations of its Domestic-International Operations SOP.
Three Passengers Reach Lufthansa Flight Without Immigration Clearance
The incident occurred during the early hours of September 4. The three passengers arrived in Delhi (DEL) from Amritsar (ATQ) on Air India flight AI-1115 at about 12:50 am.
Around an hour later, at approximately 1:45 am, they boarded Lufthansa (LH) flight LH-763 to Munich (MUC).
The passengers did not pass through immigration before leaving India. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has questioned how they were able to move through the airport’s passenger flow and reach their international departure without triggering the required immigration checks.
How the Passengers Were Routed
The three passengers were travelling under Air India’s hub-and-spoke arrangement, which connects passengers from smaller airports to international destinations through a major hub. In this case, their domestic journey was from Amritsar to Delhi, followed by their international connection to Munich.
At Amritsar, the passengers were issued D-category, or domestic, boarding passes for their Air India flight. They were also issued boarding passes for their onward Lufthansa flight to Munich.
The ministry has questioned the issuance of these additional boarding passes because Air India’s SOP provides for only two boarding-pass categories: D for domestic passengers and I for international passengers. The notice states that the process followed in this case is not provided for under the SOP.
After arriving in Delhi, the passengers should have been identified as international travellers and diverted from the domestic passenger flow toward immigration. Instead, they were taken from Gate 39 to the International-to-International Transfer Area. They then proceeded toward the departure area and boarded Lufthansa flight LH-763 without reaching the immigration checkpoint.
Five Air India SOP Provisions Flagged
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has identified five provisions of Air India’s Domestic-International Operations SOP that it says were implicated in the incident.
The first concerns boarding-pass procedures. Air India’s prescribed system provides for D and I categories, and the ministry has questioned how the passengers were handled outside that process.
The second provision requires domestic and international passengers to be segregated after disembarkation. According to the ministry, this separation did not occur in this case.
The third provision states that only passengers holding I-category boarding passes should be allowed to access the International-to-International Transfer Desk. The ministry has therefore questioned how passengers carrying D-category boarding passes were able to reach that area.
The fourth and fifth provisions concern Air India’s requirement to maintain a nodal officer and monitoring team at both hub and spoke airports around the clock. These personnel are responsible for ensuring passengers do not enter the international departure process through an incorrect route without completing mandatory formalities.
The ministry has said the monitoring mechanism failed in this incident.
Ministry Seeks Answers From Air India
The show-cause notice asks Air India to explain how passengers with D-category boarding passes were permitted to enter the International-to-International Transfer Area. It also seeks an explanation for why they were not separated from domestic passengers after arriving in Delhi.
The ministry has also asked why the passengers received boarding passes for their onward Lufthansa flight at Amritsar. Air India has been asked to clarify the role of its personnel and SATS staff involved in handling and transferring the passengers.
Further questions concern the designated nodal officer and monitoring team’s presence and actions at the time of the incident. The ministry has asked why the required reconciliation of domestic and international passengers was not completed promptly.
The ministry has also sought information on whether the General Declaration, passenger manifest and API-PNR data were shared with immigration authorities in time and whether the passengers’ status was accurately reflected in those records.
Lapse Discovered During Manual Reconciliation
The ministry has questioned why the established checks failed to identify the discrepancy before the passengers departed. According to the notice, the lapse was discovered later through manual reconciliation.
The incident raises questions about both staff procedures and the systems intended to prevent passengers from moving from a domestic arrival stream to an international departure without completing immigration clearance.
The central issue is how three passengers recorded as domestic travellers were able to access and board an international flight without the mandatory immigration process being completed.
Air India Given Seven Days To Respond
The Ministry of Civil Aviation has asked Air India to explain why action should not be initiated against the airline for failing to follow the prescribed SOP and take adequate precautions.
Air India has seven days from receipt of the notice to submit its response. If the airline fails to respond within the stipulated period, the ministry may treat it as having no explanation to offer and consider administrative and regulatory action based on the available records.
Why the Hub-and-Spoke Process Matters
The hub-and-spoke model allows passengers from smaller airports to connect to international destinations through major airports. A passenger travelling from Amritsar to Munich, for example, can fly domestically to Delhi and then connect to an international flight.
At the hub airport, passengers arriving on domestic flights but holding onward international bookings must be correctly identified and routed through the prescribed process. They must complete immigration clearance before leaving India.
In this case, the three Italian nationals were instead routed into the international transfer process and ultimately boarded their Munich-bound flight without completing immigration formalities.
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