Why has Delhi airport been overcrowded?
2 min read . Updated: 13 Dec 2022, 06:03 PM IST
Premium- The Delhi airport was congested as it experienced a huge influx of travellers in the peak travel season
Air passengers over the past few days have had been complaining about long waiting hours at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport; some shared pictures of the chaos they were experiencing outside the airport and at the security. T3, which is used for both international and domestic flights, was worst-affected as it experienced a huge influx of travellers in the peak travel season.
Highway on My Plate (HOMP) show host Rocky Singh was among the complainants on Twitter. Rocky Singh said it took him 35 minutes to get into the airport.
He wrote: “Good morning - 5:30 am Delhi T3 and welcome to HELL … 35 minutes to get into the airport - 25 minutes at a comparatively empty Vistara and now … the mother of all security lines … SECURITY !!! Abandon hope all ye who enter here."
Filmmaker Nirmal Ghosh said, “Utter chaos at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International #Airport #India with fights breaking out. 3 hrs from curbside to clearing security."
As Twitter was flooded with complaints, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited the Delhi airport and held meetings with all stakeholders. “The actions points that we have decided, together as a collective today, hopefully, we’ll see a resolving of this in the next 10 days," Scindia said.
As the Delhi airport continues to witness long security queues and at boarding points, here’s why it has been happening for the past few days.
The officials at the Delhi airport said that the chaos was due to a large number of passengers but fewer counters and security staff. The congestion at the Delhi airport could also be due to the upcoming holiday season – with Christmas and New Year’s just around the corner.
This could also be a case of revenge travel. Revenge travel is slang for leisure travel when one takes a vacation after being unable to do so for a long time. Many people had not been able to travel due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Since March 2020, there have been restrictions on travel to contain the spread of Covid-19. Jyotiraditya Scindia also said, “We have gone from a Covid era of zero passengers to actually surpass the pre-Covid numbers."
In a tweet on 27 November, Scindia said, “for the second time during Covid-19, the number of air passengers reached more than 4 lakhs per day. This is an indicator of the decreasing effect of the pandemic. We are confident that this number will increase soon, and the civil aviation sector will soon touch new dimensions."
The number of domestic passengers was above 4 lakh for the next two days, while the overall number of travellers was over 8 lakh. AAOI retired officer was quoted as saying that during the Covid-19 times, people were making only essential travels. “But the situation has changed now," he said.
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