Air India Express’ shuttle bus drops 13 int’l passengers at domestic arrival
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai: 30.12.2021
In an unusual incident, around 13 passengers, who had arrived by a Sharjah-Chennai Air India Express (IX 636) flight, were dropped at the domestic arrival terminal at the city airport by a shuttle bus of the airline close to midnight on Tuesday. The flight arrived around 11. 30pm.
The passengers found that they were at the wrong terminal after they could not find the immigration counters. Meanwhile, the airline staff who were present at the terminal found something amiss and alerted their coun- terparts who take care of international arrivals. The passengers were taken to the international terminal to process immigration procedures and other arrival formalities.
An Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said that the driving permit of the driver of the shuttle bus has been seized and action would be taken for the error.
Sources said that international passengers need to undergo immigration and customs clearance before entering the city and the error must have resulted in people walking out of the airport without any such checks. There are no checks at the domestic terminal.
An Air India Express official said, "The shuttle coach driver made a mistake and brought the passengers to the domestic terminal. A few shuttle buses were used to move the passengers to the terminal. Only one bus went to the wrong terminal. There were only a few passengers in it and the airline staff at the terminal contacted the immigration and also arranged for their transport to reach the international terminal to clear the arrival formalities. We have contacted the ground handling agency about the error. "
The AAI official said that the shuttle buses are operated by drivers who are trained for airside driving. "They have a permit after completing the training. This could be a mistake due to a communication error. The incident will be checked and corrective measures will be taken. "
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