‘Checked bags delivered to passengers within 30 minutes of arrival’: Government cracks whip amid airport chaos

A month after there was chaos at Indian airports due to heavy fog and weather conditions, the government has begun taking drastic measures. One of the causes of poor crowd management, especially when arriving at major airports, is delayed baggage check-in.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety (BCAS) has now asked seven airlines to ensure that checked baggage is delivered within 30 minutes of arrival at six major airports. Officials said airlines may face action if they do not implement the directives by February 26.

Order

BCAS on February 16 wrote to seven airlines – Air India, Indigo, Akasa, Vistara, Spicejet, Air India Express and Air India Express – asking “to implement the required measures within 10 days to ensure delivery as per operational, Service quality requirements of the Management and Delivery Agreement (OMDA), the last bag will be completed within 30 minutes.”

This is the second letter from BCAS to airlines in the past two months. “We have been monitoring the situation for the past two months. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia expressed concern over the troubles faced by passengers. Both IATA guidelines and OMD protocols impose obligations on airlines to ensure last consignment The luggage was received within 30 minutes. This is a public violation,” said a department official.

trigger

In the first week of January, the conveyor belts at Delhi Airport’s T3 terminal were full and international passengers had to wait for more than an hour to get their luggage, even though the screen showed that the last batch of luggage had arrived. For domestic passengers, the scene is no different. A quick BCAS check revealed passengers at all major airports are facing a similar dilemma.

Scindia has faced political attacks, including from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on X. Scindia demanded better management of checked baggage as one of the measures to reduce crowds. Officials said the minister began conversations with airports, airlines and other stakeholders to reduce congestion. One of the suggestions put forward was to demolish some of the airport’s lounges and commercial areas to create space for passenger movement.

actions taken

Soon, BCAS began monitoring how airlines handled checked bags on a weekly basis.

A senior official in charge of monitoring told CNN-News18: “In the weekly monitoring, it was found that the response was better in the first two weeks, but by the fourth week, baggage delays reappeared.”

Airlines have been asked to implement these measures at six major airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru – in the first phase. CNN-News18 has learned that the airline has held several meetings with the Ministry of Transport and BCAS on the issue. While airlines have in some cases blamed infrastructure, including an insufficient number of conveyor belts, in most cases ground staff have been blamed for the chaos, sources said.

“BCAS, under the leadership of Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia, began continuous monitoring of baggage arrival times at six major airports in January 2024. We have been monitoring the performance of all airlines on a weekly basis since the review exercise began, and There has been some improvement, but it has not met the requirements,” a Department of Transport spokesman said.

BCAS will push airlines to implement baggage handover time limits at all airports in India once the issue at major airports is resolved, officials said.

Airport congestion has been a concern for the government, especially since December 2022, when airports such as Delhi and Mumbai have experienced sudden surges in passenger traffic, resulting in some cases where travelers missed their flights due to delays.