India: Centre steps in as airports choke with record traffic

The civil aviation ministry on Monday issued guidelines to manage congestion at airports as passenger traffic touched record levels with the onset of the year-end holiday season amid capacity constraints at airports across India. According to the ministry, airports and airlines must reduce the number of flights during peak hours between 5 am and 9 am, as part of the action plan. Congestion at major airports, such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, came into focus after flyers flooded social media with complaints of delays due to congestion at entry points to the airport and serpentine queues at check-in counters, and security clearances as well as delays in the immigration processes since last week, which led to many passengers even missing their flights. The ministry issued the guidelines following a ground inspection of the Delhi International Airport by aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia earlier in the day. The government is assessing the situation and is looking to shift some of these flights from Delhi’s T3 international terminal to domestic terminals—T1 and T2—or operating some flights from T3 during non-peak hours.<br/>