Government Calls Emergency Meeting After Immigration Lapse Lets Italian Travelers Board Flight

The Union government scrambled an emergency session on Tuesday evening after a glaring security slip‑up allowed three Italian travellers to board an international flight from Delhi to Munich without clearing the mandatory immigration formalities.

Home Secretary Govind Mohan will chair the meeting at Kartavya Bhawan, joined by senior figures from the ministries of civil aviation, home affairs, the Intelligence Bureau, the Bureau of Immigration, as well as top executives from Air India and Delhi Airport. Their presence underscores how seriously the lapse is being taken.

According to the timeline, the three Italians began their journey at Amritsar airport on September 4. They flew to Delhi on an Air India service, then transferred to a Lufthansa flight bound for Munich. Because Air India and Lufthansa share an interline agreement, the passengers received a single set of boarding passes covering both legs.

Air India runs a hub‑and‑spoke model at selected airports, allowing eligible passengers to clear immigration at the originating “spoke” (like Amritsar) and then move straight to the international transfer area at the hub (Delhi) without another check. However, this privilege applies only when the onward flight is operated by Air India itself.

In this case the onward leg was Lufthansa‑operated, meaning the travelers should have been treated as domestic arrivals in Delhi, routed through the arrival hall, and then sent to the regular immigration counters before accessing the international departure zone. Instead, they were apparently escorted directly into the transfer area, bypassing the immigration desk entirely.

Preliminary investigations point to the initial error at Amritsar, where boarding passes for both sectors were issued without confirming the itinerary’s eligibility for the hub‑and‑spoke exemption. The government’s review will trace every decision point—from the Amritsar check‑in desk to the Delhi routing—to pinpoint where the process broke down.

Air India’s CEO, Campbell Wilson, has already received a formal show‑cause notice from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, demanding an explanation for the procedural failure. The airline is also facing regulatory action for not responding promptly to the notice.

The incident has reignited concerns over coordination among airlines, airport operators and immigration authorities, especially when passengers move between different carriers on a single itinerary. Officials say the emergency meeting will result in concrete recommendations to tighten protocols and prevent a repeat.