Delhi airport security has been tightened after three passengers reportedly boarded an international flight without passport and immigration clearance, prompting round-the-clock escort arrangements for domestic-to-international connecting travellers at Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The new guidelines were issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bureau of Immigration after the incident at Delhi’s airport. Under the revised arrangement, nodal teams will remain deployed 24 hours a day to physically escort passengers arriving on domestic flights to the correct immigration counters before they proceed to their international departures.
According to the report, the incident took place around midnight on 3 September. Three Italian nationals travelled from Amritsar to Delhi on an Air India flight before continuing towards Munich on a Lufthansa flight. After landing in Delhi, they were allegedly directed through an exit gate and then into the international-to-international transfer corridor instead of being sent for immigration clearance.
The passengers reportedly boarded the Lufthansa flight without their passports being checked or immigration clearance being completed. The lapse was detected later during a manual reconciliation of passenger documents. The report attributed the error to ground staff and said the passengers had been issued boarding passes marked “D”, indicating the domestic category, from Amritsar.
The three travellers were therefore not eligible for the direct transfer facility that allows some passengers from smaller airports to complete immigration and customs procedures before reaching Delhi. Despite this, they were mistakenly allowed into the international transfer area, according to the report.
Following the incident, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a show-cause notice to Air India, while the Ministry of Home Affairs convened an emergency meeting with senior security agencies. The revised procedure is intended to ensure that passengers using domestic-to-international connections are physically directed to the appropriate immigration channel rather than being processed through the wrong transfer route.
The escort system applies to the hub-and-spoke model, also referred to as “Easy Connect”, which Air India began operating in June through Delhi. Under this arrangement, passengers from cities such as Amritsar and Varanasi travel to Delhi before taking international flights. Eligible passengers can complete immigration and customs procedures at their origin airport, reducing the need to join the same queues again in Delhi.
The reported lapse has exposed the operational dependence of such systems on accurate passenger categorisation, gate control and coordination between airlines, ground handlers, immigration officials and airport security. The authorities’ immediate response is the deployment of 24/7 nodal teams to escort passengers and strengthen checks in the immigration and transfer corridors. Further action will follow the ministry’s review and the response to the show-cause notice issued to Air India.
