Long weekend rush hits Delhi airport services, thousands of bags misplaced

As the extended weekend began, the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital witnessed a surge in rush on Thursday evening. The situation got worsened with a failure in the baggage handling system as thousands of bags reportedly went missing, leading to a chaotic situation.

The airport administration, however, blamed “increased level of dangerous goods, particularly power banks and lighters, in customer checked-in luggage” for the chaos. Releasing an official statement, the airport administration claimed that there were 30 per cent more such instances than on an average day.

"With onset of holiday weekend, Delhi Airport experienced increased level of dangerous goods, particularly power banks and lighters in luggage. Incident rate was 30 percent higher than average. It impacted baggage handling due to the manual reconciliation of the suspect baggage," the statement said.

It further reminded the passengers to not pack such prohibited items in their checked-in luggage. In the statement, the airport authorities further said, “This has reduced the instances of passengers sending their baggage with prohibited items on the baggage handling system and hence the issue is now under control.”

Statement on Baggage Handling System. pic.twitter.com/nAYASqqBFn

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) March 29, 2018

Here’s the full statement released by Delhi Airport:

“With the holiday weekend, Delhi Airport today experienced an increased level of dangerous goods, particularly power banks and lighters, in customer checked-in luggage. The incident rate today was 30% higher than an average day. This impacted the baggage handling processing due to the manual reconciliation of the suspect baggage with the passenger and removal of the prohibited item. Passengers are being reminded, not to pack these items in their checked-luggage to avoid inconvenience. This has reduced the instances of passengers sending their baggage with prohibited items on the baggage handling system and hence the issue is now under control.”

Air Vistara also released a statement in this regard, notifying the passengers about the inconvenience. The airline said, "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." 

(With ANI inputs)