Delhi airport delays: Chaotic scenes as major Indian transit hub overwhelmed by holiday travellers

The holiday rush at India’s busiest airport in capital Delhi has left passenger grumbling on social media as they struggled to navigate serpentine queues and security checkpoints at the terminals. Chaotic scenes unfolded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport with passengers waiting for hours to seek entry into the transit hub, before facing further bottlenecks at various spots, including security and immigration. On Monday, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited the airport and spoke with authorities about the chaos. The added congestion at the normally busy airport has been largely attributed to a sudden increase in the number of travellers at the year end, after two successive years of Covid-19 pandemic hitting the tourism sector. The aviation industry has been broadly caught underprepared and understaffed to tackle the travel rebound after the easing of Covid-linked restrictions. Airport authorities also blamed fewer counters, smaller space, as well as limited security staff for the failure to tackle the surge. According to an Indian Express report, there are about 5,000 security personnel covering the entire airport, including terminals, airport gates as well as security checks. The number remains the same since 2017, when the passenger load was around 57 to 65m a year. The passenger load has risen to 70m, an official told the outlet. The Delhi Airport said that they are deploying additional systems and personnel to tackle the surge in the number of passengers.<br/>