Queue, late flights at Delhi airport: Power bank, lighters in luggage leads to chaos

New Delhi: Unusual chaos, long queues and delayed flight was witnessed at Terminal 3 of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday evening due to delay in baggage clearance of hundred of passengers.  

The airport operator, GMR-led Dial International Airport Ltd (DIAL), said the delay in baggage clearance to an “increased level of dangerous goods” particularly power banks and lighters being carried by passengers in checked-in luggage.

This incident rate was 30 per cent higher than average days as the rush was more because of the long holiday weekend. “This impacted the baggage handling processing due to manual reconciliation of the suspect baggage with the passenger and removal of prohibited items,” a DIAL spokesperson clarified, adding the issue was “now under control”.

The problem in the baggage handling system affected flight operations, with Vistara Airline issuing a statement late on Thursday evening, saying bags were not being loaded on to the flights and that the airline had taken up the issue with the airport officials.

"Please be advised that Delhi Airport has been facing challenges with the baggage handling system post check-in. All airlines and hundreds of bags have been impacted, not being loaded on to flights. The airlines have taken this up with Delhi Airport officials, and they are working on a solution," the airline said in a statement.

Vistara operates from the terminal along with Air India and international operators.

Several passengers took to social media to vent their anger over the “inordinate” delays in baggage clearance.

One of the passengers tweeted that though she landed at her destination after several hours of delay, her bags were yet to arrive.

BJP Lok Sabha MP Hema Malini was among the passengers whose bags were also stuck in the clearance process.

There were unconfirmed reports that Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav's bags were also stuck.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal arrived at a function in Mumbai hours behind schedule as source close to him said that his flight from Delhi had got delayed.

The DIAL spokesperson dismissed allegations that a section of the staff had delayed the baggage handling system because of issues arising out of the suspension of a colleague. A DIAL statement said that passengers were being reminded not to pack dangerous items in checked luggage to avoid inconvenience.

The Delhi airport is one of the busiest in the world and sees a daily traffic of over one lakh passengers.