Following repeated instances of congestion at some of India’s busiest airports, airline companies on Tuesday issued advisories asking flyers to reach the airport 2.5-3.5 hours before the scheduled departure of their flights. Usually flyers are asked to reach the airport 2 hours before the scheduled departure of their flights.

The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, Delhi India’s busiest airport, has been receiving a lot of flak from irate flyers who have complained about chaos and overcrowding since the past few days forcing the ministry of civil aviation to step in.

While the ministry said it will work with the airline companies to see if reduction of flights during peak hours (5am to 9am) can be done to reduce overcrowding, companies like IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet issued advisories to flyers on the day.

“Delhi airports are experiencing high footfalls and the check-in and boarding time is expected to be longer than usual. Passengers are requested to reach the airport at least 3.5 hours prior to domestic departures,” Indigo said on Twitter.

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In the case of full-service carrier Vistara, the airline is asking customers to reach the airport 3 hours prior to the scheduled take off, especially from airports which are prone to witnessing congestion.

“Vistara is asking customers to prepare for the congestion and plan their journey accordingly. It would be ideal to come 3 hours before the scheduled flight take off which was a standard practice depending on the situation. This advisory is for flyers who are taking flights from congested airports,” said a Vistara spokesperson.   

While the Delhi airport has received the maximum attention, Mumbai airport too has seen long queues and congestion. Low lost carrier SpiceJet has therefore asked its flyers to come 2.5 hours before the scheduled departure of the flights. 

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“Due to high footfall at the Mumbai airport terminals, check-in and boarding time is expected to take much longer than usual. For domestic travel, kindly reach 2.5 hours prior to flight departure time and 3.5 hours prior for international travel,” SpiceJet said. On Monday, the ministry devised an action plan to resolve the congestion issue at IGI Delhi. This includes setting up of a command centre that monitors crowding at the gates in real-time, deployment of crowd managers, asking airlines to keep check-in counters completely manned, increase in automatic tray retrieval system used for security checks, explore moving some flights to Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 or non-peak hours at Terminal 3.