Delayed Flights, Huge Queues: Chaos That Power Banks Caused At Delhi Airport

New Delhi: There were long queues and delayed flights at Terminal 3 of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday evening due to delays in baggage clearance of hundreds of passengers.

The airport operator, GMR-led Delhi International Airport Limited or DIAL, said the delays were caused by an increased number of check-ins of dangerous goods, such as power banks and lighters in the checked-in luggage of passengers. Due to the long holiday weekend, the check-in rate of such items was about 30 per cent higher than usual, DIAL said.

A DIAL spokesperson said such suspect baggage had to be manually traced to its passenger and then the prohibited items had to be removed, which impacted the baggage handling process. The issue was under control now, the spokesperson added.

Late in the evening, Vistara Airline notified its customers about the inconvenience saying bags were not being loaded on to flights. 

"Please be advised that Delhi Airport has been facing challenges with the baggage handling system post check-in. All airlines and hundreds of bags have been impacted, not being loaded on to flights. The airlines have taken this up with Delhi Airport officials, and they are working on a solution," the airline said in a statement.

Among those whose bags were stuck in the clearance process was BJP lawmaker Hema Malini, according to PTI. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal arrived at a function in Mumbai hours behind schedule as source close to him said that his flight from Delhi had got delayed, the PTI report said.

The Delhi airport is one of the busiest in the world and sees a daily traffic of over one lakh passengers.

With inputs from PTI