New Delhi: Delhi airport yet again witnessed chaos, on Wednesday morning, with some passengers lamenting three-hour-long queues for immigration and security checks. Taking to Twitter one of the passengers stated that it was an absolute mess at the Delhi International Airport.
"Yet again. Three-hour-long queues for immigration and security check. People are fainting, fighting. Most of the counters are not operational. Is this the new normal," added passenger Tanushree Pandey. Reacting to this, Delhi Airport responded, "We are not happy reading about your experience."
It should be noted here that Aviation traffic has recorded steady growth in the last couple of months and many airports, including the Delhi airport, have started witnessing longer queues of air passengers. The number of air passengers at airports has already crossed the mark of four lakh passengers per day even during the weekdays.
Passenger load intensifies at Delhi airport
As per the latest data, nearly 1.25 crore passengers were carried by the domestic airlines during January 2023 in the country as against 64 lakhs during the same period last year. The passenger load factor or occupancy of the airlines remained on the higher side in the range of 80 to 90 per cent.
Earlier in December 2022, Delhi airport, particularly T3, reported long queues of air passengers. Taking note of the inconvenience faced by the passengers at busy airports in the country, the authorities, including the Ministry and other stakeholders had discussed the capacities deployed and requirements to process passengers smoothly in an important meeting with different stakeholders.
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Passengers often complain about long waiting hours
In recent months, air passengers have been complaining about long waiting hours at airports, especially at Terminal 3 (T3) of Delhi airport, and authorities have been taking steps to reduce the congestion.
"It is heartening to see domestic passenger traffic surpass pre-COVID levels, clocking a new record each day. The load factors have touched over 95%. Indeed, airport operators, airlines, ground handlers, ATCOs, immigration, security – the entire circuit is fortunate to be operating at such a time, and only wishes to see this trajectory move onwards and upwards," Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in December.
(With inputs from agencies)
