Passengers in Kolkata have made an urgent appeal to India's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), to intervene and control what they describe as rampant profiteering by airlines. This outcry comes after a wave of last-minute flight cancellations by IndiGo led to a severe shortage of seats, causing one-way ticket prices between major cities to surge to shocking five-figure amounts.
Sky-High Fares Leave Travellers Stranded
The crisis unfolded on Friday when numerous direct IndiGo services from Kolkata were cancelled. This left a massive gap in availability, with no seats left on direct flights from Kolkata to key metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. Stranded travellers were forced to scramble for alternatives, often having to book expensive one-stop or connecting flights.
The price surge was astronomical. On Friday, passengers were quoted fares between Rs 1.2 lakh and Rs 1.9 lakh for one-stop flights from Kolkata to Bengaluru. Flights to Delhi ranged from Rs 72,000 to Rs 1.1 lakh, while tickets to Mumbai soared up to a staggering Rs 2.2 lakh. Similarly, fares to Hyderabad reached up to Rs 1.1 lakh for a single journey.
Weekend Travel Plans in Disarray
The turbulence extended into the weekend, disrupting travel plans for many. For Saturday, December 7, one-way fares remained exorbitantly high: Rs 22,000–Rs 23,500 for Bengaluru, Rs 22,000–Rs 40,000 for Delhi, Rs 27,000–Rs 47,000 for Mumbai, and Rs 13,000–Rs 23,000 for Hyderabad.
The situation for Sunday, December 8, was no better. Travellers faced prices of Rs 24,000–Rs 25,000 for Bengaluru, Rs 25,000–Rs 40,000 for Delhi, Rs 32,000–Rs 34,000 for Mumbai. Shockingly, fares to Hyderabad for Sunday spiked to between Rs 57,000 and Rs 1.2 lakh.
Passenger Outrage and Calls for Government Intervention
Angry and frustrated passengers took to social media and shared their ordeal directly. Swati Sinha, a 50-year-old resident of Konnagar, Hooghly, had her IndiGo flight to Bengaluru via Ahmedabad cancelled after hours of delay. "I tried booking a ticket on another airline, but the flight fares are so steep that I couldn't afford it," she said, questioning how DGCA could allow such pricing during a crisis.
Another flyer, Tanmoy Basu, highlighted the issue on social media platform X, tagging DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. He pointed out a fare of Rs 48,901 for a Bangalore to Kolkata flight on December 7, asking how an average person could afford it and demanding a fare cap.
Madhusree Goswami echoed the sentiment, accusing airlines of seeing the IndiGo crisis as an opportunity to "milk money" from desperate passengers.
The travel industry has also joined the chorus. Anil Punjabi, Chairman (East) of the Travel Agents Federation of India, stated that thousands were left in the lurch, facing a "double whammy" of cancellations and unaffordable fares. Anjani Dhanuka, Chairman (East) of the Travel Agents Association of India, reminded that the government has stepped in to check runaway fares in the past and urged them to do so again.
The collective demand from passengers and industry bodies is clear: immediate regulatory action from DGCA to implement a cap on airfares and prevent airlines from exploiting travellers during operational disruptions.
