Domestic flight passengers must arrive two hours ahead of schedule. Passengers typically arrive one hour before their scheduled domestic flight. However, due to increased traffic, many passengers have missed flights on congested routes. Keeping this in mind, airlines may issue an advisory requesting that passengers arrive 1.5 to 2 hours earlier for check-ins.
Passenger traffic at Ahmedabad airport has increased steadily since Diwali. Domestic passenger traffic at the airport has reached 32,000 people per day due to the NRI season, elections, and religious programmes.
As a result, during peak hours on busy routes, check-in and boarding counters experience heavy traffic, resulting in long lines.
On the other hand, there have been reports of passengers being offloaded due to airline overbooking on some routes.
Chirag Patel, a Prahladnagar resident and businessman, is an avid traveller. He travels to and from the city 8-10 times per month. He said, “A few days ago, I reached on time for my early morning flight and yet, the airline had closed the luggage counter. Many times, the doors are closed. As a result, I had to pay more money to catch a connecting flight.”
Due to load restrictions, airlines that overbook must offload a large number of passengers. This occurs because most passengers arrive at the airport an hour before their flight. As a result, the check-in and boarding counters become overcrowded, wasting valuable time.
According to Ahmedabad airport sources, normal footfall ranges between 26,000 and 27,000. However, it rises during Diwali and then falls again after the holiday. However, with elections and the NRI season in full swing, passenger traffic has increased by 5,000. During the Diwali holiday season, a similar advisory was issued.