New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry has convened an emergency meeting of top officials from the home and civil aviation ministries, intelligence agencies and airport and airline leadership after three Italian nationals managed to board an international flight from Delhi without undergoing mandatory immigration checks.
The meeting is slated for 7 pm on Tuesday at Kartavya Bhawan, the MHA headquarters, with Home Secretary Govind Mohan presiding. It is expected to be attended by the civil aviation secretary and additional secretary, the Intelligence Bureau chief, senior home ministry officials, the Bureau of Immigration commissioner, the head of the Air India group and the CEO of Delhi airport.
The panel will probe how the trio, who arrived from Amritsar on an Air India service before catching a Lufthansa flight to Munich, were able to reach the international departure gate without clearing immigration, a breach officials have flagged as a grave security and procedural failure, as reported by Moneycontrol.
Lapse In Connecting-Passenger Handling
The episode unfolded on September 4, when the three Italians flew Amritsar–Delhi on Air India and then Delhi–Munich on Lufthansa under an interline tie-up that allows both sectors to be booked on a single itinerary.
They were issued boarding passes for both flights at Amritsar, but their travel plan did not fall under Air India’s hub-and-spoke immigration facility, which permits exit checks at the originating airport only on designated routes.
As a result, they were supposed to alight at Delhi, move out of the secure area, clear Indian immigration and then re-enter the international departure hall for their Lufthansa connection. However, upon landing, they were taken to the international transfer corridor and escorted to the departure gate, bypassing the immigration counter, according to sources cited by PTI.
Show-Cause Notice To Air India CEO
In response, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has served a show-cause notice on Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, describing the incident as a serious security and immigration-related lapse and seeking a detailed explanation within seven days. The notice cites alleged violations of standard operating procedures for hub-and-spoke operations that enabled the passengers to depart India without mandatory clearance.
The development comes as Air India’s top management has stressed rebuilding public confidence.
“The most important thing Air India should aspire to have is trust in the minds of people,” chairman N Chandrasekaran told staff at an internal town hall on September 7. He added that the carrier must pursue “world-class processes, rigorous compliance and personal accountability”, aiming for a safety record that is not just on par with the best airlines globally but “better than them”.