MUMBAI: In a case of a security breach, some passengers of a Vistara flight from Dubai to the city were taken to the domestic terminal instead of international after their flight landed in the early hours of Monday.
Domestic terminals have no immigration counters and do not fall under the purview of customs. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) initiated an inquiry against the airline. The incident occurred after flight UK-202 landed at 12.24 am.
A post on X said all passengers on the flight had been dropped at the domestic terminal directly at the baggage conveyor belt. An official clarified that the passengers’ check-in bags were at the conveyor belt in the international terminal. The official also said that not all passengers on the flight were taken to the domestic terminal.
“Of the four coach buses which transported the passengers from the aircraft to the terminal building, one of them went to the domestic terminal instead of the international terminal,” the official said. “This is a serious security breach and an investigation has begun.”
At the airport, all flights take off and land on the same runway but passengers are segregated into international and domestic based on their journeys.
The flight from Dubai was scheduled to land at 11.55 pm on Sunday but had a delayed departure from Dubai. Around the same time, two domestic Vistara flights landed at the airport, at 12.08 am and 12.39 am. One was from Goa and the other from Delhi.
In a statement, Vistara said: “Few of our customers, arriving from Dubai to Mumbai on Vistara flight UK 202 on February 04, were erroneously taken to domestic arrivals instead of international arrivals. Our teams worked alongside security agencies and relevant authorities to ensure that the said customers were taken to the designated area to complete their arrival formalities and conclude their journey. We regret the inconvenience caused to the customers, inadvertently. We are revisiting and further tightening our standard operating procedures … .”
Domestic terminals have no immigration counters and do not fall under the purview of customs. The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) initiated an inquiry against the airline. The incident occurred after flight UK-202 landed at 12.24 am.
A post on X said all passengers on the flight had been dropped at the domestic terminal directly at the baggage conveyor belt. An official clarified that the passengers’ check-in bags were at the conveyor belt in the international terminal. The official also said that not all passengers on the flight were taken to the domestic terminal.
“Of the four coach buses which transported the passengers from the aircraft to the terminal building, one of them went to the domestic terminal instead of the international terminal,” the official said. “This is a serious security breach and an investigation has begun.”
At the airport, all flights take off and land on the same runway but passengers are segregated into international and domestic based on their journeys.
The flight from Dubai was scheduled to land at 11.55 pm on Sunday but had a delayed departure from Dubai. Around the same time, two domestic Vistara flights landed at the airport, at 12.08 am and 12.39 am. One was from Goa and the other from Delhi.
In a statement, Vistara said: “Few of our customers, arriving from Dubai to Mumbai on Vistara flight UK 202 on February 04, were erroneously taken to domestic arrivals instead of international arrivals. Our teams worked alongside security agencies and relevant authorities to ensure that the said customers were taken to the designated area to complete their arrival formalities and conclude their journey. We regret the inconvenience caused to the customers, inadvertently. We are revisiting and further tightening our standard operating procedures … .”