Airline incidents don’t seem to be coming to end with another blunder that came to light recently. Thirty passengers travelling from Colombo were inadvertently dropped off at the domestic arrivals gate on Friday at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), a huge security blunder. It caused confusion in yet another aviation-related incident. Flight UL 173, operated by Sri Lankan Airlines, carried 30 passengers.
International Travellers Were Dropped Off At Domestic Arrival At Bengaluru Airport
An official from the company that runs KIA, Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL), acknowledged that a “human error” had taken place. 30 passengers were incorrectly dropped off at the domestic arrivals bus gate at BLR Airport on March 17 instead of the international arrivals bus gate. These passengers had flown on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL 173. According to the BIAL spokesperson, these travellers arrived at the domestic bag claim area.
To rectify the situation, steps were taken swiftly. But as soon as the CISF and Immigration were informed of the accident, the terminal operations team sped to the scene. Thereafter, the passengers were quickly transported to the international arrivals of Bengaluru Airport for immigration. The spokesperson further explained that the travellers moved on to the international baggage claim area.
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BIAL Attempted To Rectify The Situation
BIAL added that the incident at the Bengaluru airport that finally resulted in the confusion was the result of a human error. Nonetheless, remedial actions are being done.
This mistake by an airline was most probably not the first of its kind. We had quite a few instances this year that highlighted the system’s poor management. For its Bengaluru-Delhi service earlier this year, a domestic airline by the name of Go First neglected to board over 50 customers who were waiting on a shuttle on the tarmac, and the flight took off without them. The airline apparently made arrangements for another flight for the forgotten guests after realising its error. The overall airline business is judged on the level of service provided, therefore incidents like these have the expected impact.
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