Delhi Airport Congestion LIVE Updates Blog: Aviation Minister says 'All hands on deck' to reduce chaos at Terminal 3

Chaos at Delhi Airport Latest Updates: Domestic airlines including Indigo, Spicejet, Air India has issued advisory, asked passengers to arrive early to avoid chaos at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

The Delhi International Airport is witnessing a huge rush due to the ongoing holiday season and pent up demand post COVID-19 recovery. While every year high footfall is recorded during December-January months, this time around, the high footfall has created chaos at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Multiple internet users complained on Twitter about their ordeal at the India's busiest and largest airport, with a few of them also missing flights due to long queues both outside and inside the Terminal 3, which serves both international and domestic travellers.

Many of them also tagged Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Twitter, following which, he promised to take action. The aviation ministry, then took the stock of the situation after meeting relevant authorities from the Delhi Airport and AAI. He also made a surprise visit at the Terminal 3 and gave his inputs. Later, a slew of measures were announced, including increasing entry gates, new X-Ray machines among others. However, the issue is not yet resolved and passengers are still complaining of long queues at the airport.

Airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet recently issued advisory to reach Delhi airport well ahead of time to avoid any last-minute chaos. Passengers were asked to reach at least 3.5 years earlier than departure for domestic flights and carry hand baggage for saving time. Here's a better understanding of the issue and how you can avoid the rush:

The Delhi International Airport is the largest and busiest airports in India, connecting the highest number of countries to India. While the T1 and T2 serve domestic flights, the T3 is for both domestic and international flights and this is where the chaos is reported. The congestion starts at the pre-departure area where people are complaining about fewer number of gates and slow process by CISF security personnels.

Although due to the holiday season of December, there's a sudden increase in footfall, many are also blaming the pent-up demand after COVID-19, with a lot of passengers travelling for leisure activities across the globe. The main security where one passes through X-ray machines, is also blamed to be slow and also less in number.

Measures announced

The aviation ministry recently announced a slew of measures to counter the high footfall including increasing the number of X-ray screening systems from 14 to 16 and reducing the number of flights during peak hours to 14 from T3.

15 December 2022

09:53 IST

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will chair a high-level meeting on airport congestion on Thursday morning. The meeting is likely to be held after 11 am in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Senior officers in the MHA, officials in the Minister of Civil Aviation and others concerned with the matter, including those in Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), will attend the meeting.

08:38 IST

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport CEO summoned by parliamentary panel today (December 15) to discuss the congestion issue at the Terminal 3 of the airport.

08:16 IST

Amid congestion, state-owned AAI has asked Delhi airport operator DIAL to provide details on whether there has been any deficiency in providing services at the airport, according to an official.

18:50 IST

Mumbai International Airport

Not just Delhi Airport, but Mumbai International Airport is also facing clogging due to high rush at the International terminal. Earlier, a server glitch at the Mumbai airport many passengers stranded for hours. 

17:01 IST

Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's latest statement

Aviation Minister, on Wednesday said all agencies have swung into action in the last 24-36 hours to mitigate congestion at all major airports. "Congestion at entry points and check-in counters at T3 has eased. Four additional X-ray machines have been added at the Security Hold Area; display boards showing wait time have come up. Deployment of CISF manpower has already kick-started, and will progressively increase in the next few days," he said.

16:18 IST

Delhi Airport Traffic Congestion Update at 1530 Hrs

Terminal 3 Update at 15:31 hours.

Smooth passenger movement at the entry gates at T3 with an average waiting time of 0-5 minutes.
Smart Travel Tip: travel with only one hand baggage as cabin luggage to the airport for faster processing.

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) December 14, 2022

15:44 IST

CISF Places Additional Personnels At Security Gates

To ensure a smooth flow of passengers at the security gates of Delhi International Airport's terminal 3, 100 more CISF personnel are deployed. Resultantly, a smoother flow of flyers without congestion is expected.

14:10 IST

Internet users take a lighter note of the situation with memes. Twitteratis share a slew of funny memes on the congestion reported on Delhi International Airport's Terminal 3.

Better traffic control than Delhi Airport #IGIAirport #Airport #delhi pic.twitter.com/HtwkOHqOrn

— Digvijay Pratap Singh (@digvijay_veeru) December 13, 2022

13:49 IST

Delhi Airport Check-in Counter, Live Updates

Terminal 3 Update at 12:36 hours.

Smooth transition of passengers can be seen at terminal entry gates with an average waiting time 0-5 mins. pic.twitter.com/WW7EypE43e

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) December 14, 2022

12:32 IST

IndiGo has also updated flyers about the congestion on Terminal 3, and the airline has asked passengers to reach early and carry just one handbag.

#6ETravelAdvisory #DelhiAirportUpdate #goIndiGo @MoCA_GoI @JM_Scindia pic.twitter.com/l9pDfm4Or6

— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) December 12, 2022

12:00 IST

Parliamentary Committee Summons Delhi Airport CEO

Parliamentary Standing Committee for Transport, Tourism, and Culture has issued summon against the CEO of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). the committee is led by YSR Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy, and it took  The PAR panel took suo motu cognisance of issues reported by passengers about the airport. It has also chalked out a route map to solve this issue.

11:51 IST

Current Waiting Time at Terminal 3

A Twitter user recently shared a glimpse of the check-in gates and shared that the waiting time currently is around 1 hour.

Contributing to #DelhiAirport thingy :)
Good 1 hour wait in queue :)) pic.twitter.com/N7anHF8Vlr

— Siddarth Koul (@koul_siddarth) December 14, 2022

11:49 IST

Today, at 5:30 Am, Delhi Aiport updated about the status of congestion. The tweet mentioned that the waiting time is anywhere in between 0-5 mins.

Terminal 3 Update at 05:30 hours

Smooth passengers movement observed at all terminal entry gates with an average waiting time of 0-5 minutes.
Smart Travel Tip: For a Significantly faster experience at every touch point, we recommend domestic passengers to use #DigiYatra pic.twitter.com/zbR0eLLJrU

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) December 14, 2022

11:35 IST

Scindia met officials of DGCA, AAI, and DIAL and certain measures were announced to reduce the congestion at check-in gates.

1. Reduced number of flights during peak hours.

2. Increased number of X-Ray machines.

3. Demolition of reserved lounge.

4. Convert entry points at Gate 1A and Gate 8B at T3 for passenger use.

11:30 IST

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Visits Airport

With so many complaints and tweets noticed regarding the congestion seen in the Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Jyotitaridtya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, took note of the situation by visiting the airport.

11:22 IST

Delhi airport's terminal 3 witnessed a massive ruckus on December 12, wherein passengers waited hours to finish their check-in procedures. In fact, many missed their flights. Flyers then took it to social media, which caught a lot of limelight and attention from the Union Minister for Civil Aviation - Jyotiraditya Scindia, as well.