New Delhi, Aug 25 (PTI): With DGCA's guidelines on reducing congestion coming into force here from tomorrow, Air India has decided to close its check-in counters 40 minutes and 60 minutes before the scheduled departures of their domestic and international flights respectively.  
 
"In compliance with the civil aviation requirement, issued by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation for reducing congestion and delays, Air India has decided to close its check-in counters 40 minutes before the scheduled departure of domestic flights and 60 minutes earlier for the international flights," an Air India spokesperson said. This will come into effect immediately, as the DGCA guidelines would be implemented from tomorrow in Delhi, he added.

Under the transport civil aviation requirement (CAR), if airlines fail to push back (when a tractor hauls the plane to the taxiway) within the allotted time, they are given new slots 30-90 minutes later.

Also, the pilots have been instructed to seek pre-departure clearances from Air Traffic Control (ATC) 15 minutes prior to departure. The rules were first implemented in Mumbai and it received a good response as the number of delayed flights reduced significantly and now the rules would be implemented in Delhi from tomorrow.