The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has called an urgent meeting of senior officials after three Italian passengers travelled from Amritsar to Delhi and then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich without completing mandatory immigration formalities.
The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday evening, will bring together officials from the home and civil aviation ministries along with other stakeholders to examine how the passengers were able to board the international flight.
The incident took place on September 4 and has raised questions over the procedures followed during the passengers’ transfer at Delhi airport.
Senior officials to attend meeting
According to a notice cited by Hindustan Times, home secretary Govind Mohan will chair the meeting at Kartavya Bhawan. Those expected to attend include the Civil Aviation Ministry secretary and additional secretary, Intelligence Bureau director, Home Ministry secretary and additional secretary, Bureau of Immigration commissioner, Air India Group head and Delhi airport CEO.
“The Home Ministry has called for a meeting of the stakeholders at 7 pm in Kartavya Bhawan (MHA office) to discuss the incident on Tuesday,” an official said.
The meeting follows a show-cause notice issued by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to Air India on September 12 after concerns were raised by the MHA over the handling of the passengers.
Air India had not responded to the notice as of Tuesday evening, according to people aware of the matter. The airline and MoCA did not comment on the issue.
Passengers moved to international transfer route
The three passengers had taken an Air India flight from Amritsar to Delhi before travelling onwards to Munich on Lufthansa.
People aware of the matter said the passengers were issued boarding passes for both sectors at Amritsar airport. They were expected to complete immigration formalities at Delhi before taking the international flight.
“They were issued two boarding passes at the Amritsar airport for Delhi as well as for the Munich flight operated by Lufthansa. The passengers were supposed to complete their immigration at the Delhi airport but they were directed to the I-to-I (international-to-international) transfer, due to which they were able to board their international flight without completing the mandatory process,” one of the people said.
Hub-and-spoke model under scrutiny
Amritsar is among the airports where a hub-and-spoke system has been introduced. Under this arrangement, passengers travelling internationally complete immigration at the originating airport before transferring to an international flight at a designated hub.
However, the three passengers were travelling from Amritsar to Delhi before taking the Munich flight. Since the flights were not covered by the applicable hub-and-spoke arrangement, they were required to complete immigration at Delhi, according to people aware of the matter.