Over 50 air passengers from Dubai erroneously enter Mumbai’s domestic terminal, says Vistara

Over 50 passengers of a Dubai-Mumbai Vistara flight were mistakenly taken to the domestic terminal, prompting an investigation.

Over 50 passengers of a Dubai-Mumbai Vistara airlines were taken to the domestic terminal instead of international arrivals terminal at Mumbai airport on Monday. The passengers who disembarked and boarded the airport shuttle coach buses, bypassed Customs and immigration clearance prompting the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BACS) to launch an investigation into the breach, an airport official said.

Clarifying the matter, a Vistara spokesperson said, “Few of our customers, arriving from Dubai to Mumbai on Vistara flight UK 202 on 4 February 2024, 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 to avoid any recurrence.”

When international passengers arrive at Indian airports, it is compulsory for all of them to clear the immigration process.

An airport official said that there were over 50 passengers in the flight comprising Indians as well as foreign nationals who had to fly to other countries via Mumbai.

When the flight landed in Mumbai from Dubai in the morning and the passengers disembarked the plane, there were four airport shuttle coach buses, the official said, while adding: “One of the buses by mistake reached the domestic terminal. When the ground staff realised this, all the passengers were asked to go back to the international terminal on arrival. This process of returning to the international terminal took 30 to 40 minute delay.”

“It is not true that all the four coach buses reached the domestic terminal by mistake, it was just one coach carrying over 50 passengers who reached the wrong terminal erroneously. It is not that grave as few tweets have mentioned that all the passengers from all the four coach buses were taken to one location. That is particularly not possible,” the official added.

After the passengers were brought to the international terminal, their immigration clearance was done, the official said.