Three Italian passengers bound for Munich were allowed to board an international flight from Delhi without undergoing the immigration clearance required to leave India, prompting the civil aviation ministry to seek an explanation from Air India, according to a report.
In a show-cause notice dated September 12, the ministry asked Air India's chief executive to account for the lapse, giving the airline a week to submit its response. NDTV reported. The ministry has identified five instances of alleged non-compliance with Air India's D-I Operations Standard Operating Procedure.
The incident unfolded in the early hours of Sept. 4, when the passengers arrived in Delhi aboard Air India flight AI-1115 from Amritsar shortly before 1 a.m. About an hour later, at roughly 1:45 a.m., they boarded Lufthansa flight LH-763 for Munich.
However, they allegedly bypassed the immigration process required for international departure.
According to the report, the passengers had been issued domestic, or D-category, boarding passes for their Amritsar-Delhi journey. They were also issued boarding passes for their Lufthansa connection while still at Amritsar.
The ministry said the prescribed SOP does not allow for issuance of such an additional boarding pass.
After reaching Delhi, the passengers were reportedly taken from Gate 39 to the International-to-International Transfer Area instead of being routed through immigration.
The ministry has also flagged failures in passenger segregation and access controls, noting that the international transfer area should have been accessible only to passengers holding I-category boarding passes.
Two other alleged violations relate to the deployment and functioning of nodal officers and monitoring teams at hub and spoke airports, which are tasked with ensuring passengers complete the required procedures before reaching international departures.
The notice also seeks details of the Air India and SATS personnel involved, the issuance of the Lufthansa boarding passes and the functioning of the monitoring mechanism. The discrepancy was reportedly detected only during manual reconciliation after the passengers had departed.
The ministry has also sought information on whether passenger manifests, General Declaration and API-PNR data were supplied to immigration authorities on time. Air India has been asked to explain why regulatory or administrative action should not be taken over the alleged lapses.
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