After a long flight, many international passengers arriving in the city endure a frustrating wait in long queues to complete immigration formalities at Chennai airport.
This particularly happens early mornings when several international flights arrive in short intervals.
There are not enough staff at the immigration counters at the international terminal of the airport to cope with the rush, sources said.
Irate passengers have been posting on social media platforms about the delay to complete the routine immigration formalities at the airport.
A passenger, Neel Patel, posted on social media: “AC does not work , no wifi / network for international travellers. No separate queues in immigration, literally 1,000 people stand behind each other.”
Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said, this problem occurs due to bunching of flights.
Nearly seven or eight flights land at the airport between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. and since these are international flights, about 200-250 passengers could exit from each one, resulting in congestion.
“Earlier, there were only about four or five staff at the immigration counters but now we have increased it substantially. In the arrivals, 19 normal counters and 14 e-visa counters are manned and in departures, 22 counters have staff. We have taken up this issue with the authorities . We are adding more staff and will ensure this issue is resolved,” officials said.
