The Centre has summoned Air India’s CEO after three Italian nationals allegedly left India without mandatory departure immigration clearance at Delhi airport. | Photo Credit: Dado Ruvic

New Delhi

The Centre has summoned Air India’s Chief Executive Officer after three foreign nationals allegedly left India without completing mandatory departure immigration clearance at Delhi airport, sources told businessline.

The development comes after the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) issued a show-cause notice to Air India on September 12 over what it termed a “serious security and immigration-related lapse”.

According to the notice, three Italian nationals arrived at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at 0050 hours on September 4 on Air India flight AI-1115 from Amritsar.

They subsequently travelled from Delhi to Munich on Lufthansa flight LH-763 at 0145 hours without obtaining mandatory departure immigration clearance.

Security and immigration lapse

The Ministry said the incident occurred during Air India’s hub-and-spoke operations and involved a violation of the prescribed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Meanwhile, industry sources told businessline that an initial report attributed the lapse to the airline’s ground-handling procedures.

As per sources familiar with the initial report, the passengers’ boarding cards carried a “D” marking, identifying them as domestic passengers on the Amritsar–Delhi leg.

They should have been directed through domestic arrivals, sources said, adding that after exiting, these passengers should have re-entered via international departures, where they were required to complete immigration formalities before proceeding to their onward flight.

Ground-handling process under scrutiny

However, sources said the ground-handling agency allegedly routed them through the international-to-international (I2I) transfer process instead of the domestic-to-international (D2I) process.

This allowed them direct access to the Lufthansa counter for their onward journey, bypassing departure immigration checks, sources said.

Nevertheless, sources said MoCA is taking the incident seriously, given the security and immigration implications of foreign nationals departing the country without mandatory clearance.

Amritsar hub-and-spoke operations

In July, MoCA launched hub-and-spoke international flight operations from Amritsar, making it the second spoke airport under the framework after Varanasi.

Under the facility, passengers travelling overseas can complete check-in and departure immigration formalities at Amritsar before taking a connecting flight through Delhi.

In addition, those who complete immigration at Amritsar can use the I2I transfer facility in Delhi for their onward journey.

Air India’s AI-1115 was among the two daily flights designated for the airline’s ‘Easy Connect’ services from Amritsar.

Published on September 14, 2026