How Delhi's aviation hub ambition takes wings with Air India's expansion, US pre-clearance talks
The ministry of civil aviation and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) are exploring ways to align every agency to ensure a seamless transfer experience.
Since the beginning of 2024, we have witnessed tremendous movement in two areas: Air India’s expansion plans and serious talks about building a hub in India. In both of these cases, Delhi takes centre stage.
The airport serves as an existing hub for Air India and IndiGo. For IndiGo, it is more of a regional expansion—it connects some very strategic countries. When it comes to Air India, the airline has been building its hub in Delhi for many years, making the national capital the de facto choice.
The ministry of civil aviation and Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) are exploring ways to align every agency to ensure a seamless transfer experience. One potential solution could be implementing the US pre-clearance facility at Delhi, meaning that passengers would arrive in the US as domestic passengers—having cleared US immigration and customs at New Delhi.
This move would provide a significant boost to Indian carriers wishing to fly non-stop to the United States, particularly Air India. It would benefit the airline in two ways: firstly, by attracting passengers from other carriers, and secondly, by making the airline competitive for traffic originating in the SAARC countries and travelling to the US. In both cases, Delhi Airport would benefit as a transfer hub.
As Air India gears up to enhance its product offering, starting with the induction of A350s, it will still take time to compete with the likes of Middle-Eastern carriers who have built loyalty over many years and have continuously invested in upgrading both hard and soft products. A key differentiator and draw would be ease of connections. While competing with Dubai might not be achievable overnight, strategic tactics would differentiate the carrier.
US pre-clearance
US pre-clearance is an old concept, first introduced in the 1950s and regularly practised in Canada since the 1970s. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Preclearance involves strategically stationing CBP personnel at designated foreign airports to inspect travellers before boarding US-bound flights. With Preclearance, travellers then bypass CBP and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspections upon arrival in the US and proceed directly to their connecting flight or destination.
CBP has more than 600 officers and agriculture specialists stationed at 15 Preclearance locations in 6 countries: Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; Aruba; Bermuda; Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates; Nassau in the Bahamas; and Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg in Canada. In 2019, CBP personnel stationed abroad precleared 22 million travellers, representing over 16 per cent of all commercial air travellers to the United States.
From a passenger perspective, it facilitates reaching the US as a domestic passenger and avoiding the long queues at US immigration, thus enabling faster connecting flights. For airlines, it means access to more gates at the airport and more cities in the US.
Delhi—the right airport?
Establishing CBP preclearance requires a government-to-government agreement. With increasing cooperation between the two countries and membership in multilateral agreements, among other factors, this may not be an insurmountable task.
However, the airport would need to redesign itself to comply with the strict guidelines for CBP preclearance. While this may not be feasible in the current structure, with the evolution of the Delhi Airport master plan and the possibility of a new Terminal 4, these requirements could be accurately factored in.
This initiative would not only benefit Air India but also United and American Airlines, which operate flights to New Delhi from the US. US carriers have had to scale back their Delhi operations following the ban on overflying Russian airspace, which has been ongoing since February 2022.
Word of caution
At first glance, this seems like a great opportunity, but US pre-clearance comes with multiple challenges such as requiring more time pre-departure, potentially disrupting hub connections, and the need for a dedicated separate area, which could become crowded at specific times while remaining empty at other times of the day.
Not many hubs have opted for this facility, indicating that many airlines have not seen significant benefits in partnering with hub airports and investing. However, not many airports worldwide are undergoing as rapid expansion and change as Delhi Airport.