Passengers of an international flightdropped off at domestic terminal

Passengers of an international flightdropped off at domestic terminal

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI 3.01.2025

Passengers of an international flight were accidentally taken to the domestic terminal at Chennai airport on Wednesday night. The Air India Express from Singapore reached the city around 11.45 p.m.

Since the flight was parked at the remote stand, around 150 passengers were transported in five buses by the ground handling agency. Of the five buses, two carrying about 90 passengers erroneously dropped them off at the T4 domestic terminal instead of the T2 international terminal, sources said.

As soon as they realised the mistake, they ensured that the 90 passengers were transported to the international terminal in the same bus. “They were accompanied by Customs officials. They got Central Industrial Security Force clearance and subsequently went through immigration. As a result of this, they were delayed by half an hour. The mistake occurred because it was a new ground handling agency, and we believe there was a communication error,” a source said.

The incident came to light when a passenger highlighted the security concerns on social media platform ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). What if the passengers had exited the terminal without immigration and the inconvenience they had to endure, the passenger said.

“We are aware of an incident where the ground handling agency coach drivers at Chennai airport erroneously directed international passengers of one flight to the domestic arrival area. The issue was promptly resolved,” an Air India Express spokesperson said. Airports Authority of India officials say they are looking in it. “The airline and ground handling agency are usually responsible for carrying passengers from the aircraft to the terminal,” an official said.