Kingfisher to close its check-in counters early

In conformity with civil aviation regulator DGCA's guidelines on reducing flight delay, private carrier Kingfisher Airlines will close its check-in counters for domestic flights 40 minutes prior to departure.

With effect from midnight on Tuesday, the check-in counters for all domestic flights of Kingfisher Airlines departing from six cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore -- will close 40 minutes before departure, an airline statement said.

Besides, the boarding gates for the airline's domestic flights departing at all these airports will close 15 minutes before the time of departure, it said.

Earlier, the airline was closing its check-in counters 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure of its flights. This change has been necessitated to minimise operational disruptions/passenger inconvenience while ensuring compliance with the directions and procedures laid down by DGCA, it said.

The DGCA had in October last year issued an Air Transport Circular to all stakeholders, directing them to follow certain procedures on boarding and aircraft push-back.