THREE Italian nationals travelled from Delhi to Munich without going through immigration at Delhi airport on September 4. The incident prompted the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to issue a show-cause notice to Air India, said sources.
The three passengers had taken an Air India "hub-and-spoke" flight on the night of September 3 from Amritsar to Delhi, after which they boarded a Lufthansa flight to Munich early on September 4 without going through immigration.
Under the hub-and-spoke arrangement, also known as 'Easy Connect', Air India passengers flying overseas via Delhi from select domestic airports can clear immigration at the origin airport, and then take the Air India international flight from Delhi airport without having to go through immigration.
For such passengers, the boarding pass for the first flight has a special designator code I, which means they head directly to the departure gate for the international flight after landing at Delhi airport. For others, the boarding pass for domestic flight has a designator D, requiring them to technically exit arrivals at Delhi.
According to sources, in this instance, the three Italian nationals were not eligible for the Easy Connect service and were supposed to exit at Delhi and go through immigration again for their Lufthansa flight to Munich. Prima facie, it appears to be a case of oversight and confusion, with these passengers directly heading to the boarding gate for next flight, along with Easy Connect passengers, as per a source.
Their boarding cards for the Delhi-Munich flight were issued at the Amritsar airport. Lufthansa and Air India have a codeshare partnership.
After the incident came to light, following manual reconciliation of passenger data, MoCA on Saturday (September 12) issued a show-cause notice to Air India, giving the airline seven days to respond. The Tata group carrier has not responded. The Ministry has sought response on how passengers with D designator on boarding passes were able to move freely in international transit area instead of being directed towards arrivals.
*Analysis:* This is not just a missed stamp, it is a border breach. Easy Connect was meant to make one-stop domestic-to-international travel hassle-free, but the I/D coding relies on ground handling by AISATS and manual checks at a crowded T3 transfer. If three ineligible passengers can walk into the sterile international area and board a Lufthansa flight with passes printed in Amritsar, the system is trusting codes over controls. Home Secretary likely meeting Bureau of Immigration, DIAL and Air India shows the security angle — immigration is MHA's domain, not MoCA's.