Three Italian nationals bypass immigration and leave India; Air India gets show-cause notice

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a show-cause notice to Air India after three Italian nationals flew from Delhi to Munich without completing the mandatory immigration check. The airline has been asked to submit an explanation within seven days.

The three passengers arrived in Delhi from Amritsar on an Air India domestic flight on the night of September 3. They later boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich in the early hours without undergoing immigration, which is mandatory for international travel.

Air India and Lufthansa are code-share partners. The incident came to light when the passenger details were later manually cross-checked.

The preliminary finding points to confusion related to Air India’s ‘Easy Connect’ system. The three passengers were required to complete immigration after arriving in Delhi.

The role of AISATS, the ground-handling agency at Delhi airport, will also be examined. Authorities will also look into why the details of passengers arriving from Amritsar on the domestic flight were not cross-checked. The notice was issued on September 12.