India's aviation sector faced significant disruption on Saturday, December 6, 2025, as the country's largest carrier, IndiGo, cancelled a massive number of flights, prompting immediate intervention from the Indian Railways to manage the stranded passenger rush.
Massive Flight Cancellations Cause Travel Chaos
IndiGo cancelled over 400 flights from four major airports across the country on Saturday. The affected airports included Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, and Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. This came just a day after the airline managed to secure temporary relaxations in the new court-mandated flight duty and rest period norms for its cockpit crew.
The situation at Hyderabad's airport was particularly severe. According to sources cited by PTI, as many as 74 outbound IndiGo flights were cancelled from Hyderabad on Saturday, with an additional 70 incoming flights also likely to be axed. This wave of cancellations followed a day of even greater disruption on Friday, when the airline cancelled over 1,000 flights nationwide.
Railways Step In With Special Services
In response to the aviation crisis, the South Central Railway (SCR) announced it would run four special trains on Saturday to clear the extra rush of passengers. These special services were deployed on key routes from Hyderabad to mitigate the impact of the flight cancellations.
The SCR, in an official press release, stated that the special trains were being operated to manage the surge of passengers traveling to Chennai, Mumbai, and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad. This move by the railways is part of a broader government effort to provide relief, which also includes capping airfares on popular routes to prevent other airlines from exploiting the situation with exorbitant pricing, though specific cap details were not immediately disclosed.
Passenger Frustration Boils Over
The abrupt cancellations led to widespread frustration and anger among travelers. Passengers thronged IndiGo counters at airports, desperately seeking information and alternatives. Many took to social media to voice their complaints about poor communication and handling of the situation.
Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson, expressed his ordeal on X (formerly Twitter). He stated that after completing DigiYatra formalities and receiving a message that his departure was rescheduled, he arrived at Hyderabad airport only to find out at the security checkpoint that his IndiGo flight was cancelled.
Another netizen highlighted the lack of staff and information, noting that it was only after a fellow passenger started shouting on the microphone that an IndiGo staff member finally appeared to address the crowd. The airline's CEO, Pieter Elbers, had issued a video apology on Friday for the major inconvenience caused by the disruptions and indicated that the airline expected to operate fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
The ongoing cancellations have created a domino effect across the travel industry, with a sharp jump in fares on other airlines for popular routes. The government's directive to cap fares and the railways' operational response underscore the scale of the disruption affecting thousands of passengers during a peak travel period.
