Three Italian passengers somehow left the country without ever going through immigration. They flew in from Amritsar on a regular Air India domestic flight and less than an hour later they were on a Lufthansa plane heading to Munich. No immigration stamp, no formalities, nothing. Just gone.
It happened in the early hours of 4 September. The three landed in Delhi around 12.50 in the morning on Air India flight AI-1115 from Amritsar. By 1.45 am they were already in the air on Lufthansa LH-763 to Munich. That’s a tight connection, and somehow the whole immigration step got skipped.
From what people are saying, the mix-up started in Amritsar. Staff there gave them boarding passes for both the Delhi flight and the onward Munich flight. When they landed in Delhi they were supposed to come out through the normal arrivals area, clear immigration, and then go for their international departure. That’s the standard drill for this kind of journey.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has already sent Air India a show-cause notice. It’s dated 12 September and calls the whole thing a serious security and immigration-related lapse. They’re asking the airline to explain how these passengers, who had domestic boarding passes, ended up in the international transfer area. They’re also asking why the Munich boarding passes were even issued in Amritsar in the first place, and why the problem only came to light after the passengers had already left India. Air India has seven days to reply. So far the airline hasn’t said anything publicly.
Today the Home Ministry is stepping in. Home Secretary Govind Mohan is chairing a meeting at 7 pm at Kartavya Bhawan. Around the table will be the civil aviation secretary and additional secretary, the Intelligence Bureau director, senior home ministry people, the Bureau of Immigration commissioner, the Air India group head, and the Delhi airport CEO. They’re basically trying to figure out where the system broke and how to stop it happening again.
People who know the details say it looks like a mix of confusion over the hub-and-spoke system Air India has been using and plain human error on the ground. The hub-and-spoke idea is meant to make connections smoother from smaller airports like Amritsar into Delhi. But in this case the Amritsar-Delhi and Delhi-Munich flights weren’t actually covered by the seamless transfer rules. These three should have been treated as normal domestic arrivals who then needed full immigration clearance. That step just didn’t happen.
One person close to the matter put it simply: they got two boarding passes in Amritsar, got pointed the wrong way in Delhi, and somehow no one caught it until the passenger lists were checked later. The recent decision to stop stamping immigration on boarding cards might have made it harder to spot in the moment too.
Airport security and immigration checks exist for a reason. Leaving the country without proper clearance isn’t a small paperwork issue. Officials are treating it seriously, which is why the Home Ministry pulled everyone in for a meeting the same day the story started circulating widely.
Whether the three Italians even realised what had happened isn’t clear. They were just following the staff directions they were given. The focus right now is on the process that let them walk out without the required checks.
By the time the meeting finishes this evening, the officials should have a clearer idea of who did what, where the standard operating procedure failed, and what needs fixing straight away. Air India’s reply to the show-cause notice will matter as well. The airline has been pushing its hub-and-spoke operations, and this kind of incident puts those plans under a bright light.
For now, three people left India without immigration clearance, a major airline has been asked to explain itself, and the country’s top security and aviation officials are sitting down tonight to make sure the same thing can’t happen again. That’s the basic, worrying picture of what went on at Delhi airport on 4 September.
Sources:
Hindustan Times, India Today, The Times of India, The Hindu, LiveMint, Indian Express, Outlook India, ABP Live, The Tribune, Business Standard, WION All the reports.
@Rohit Manral