A severe crew shortage at IndiGo, India's largest airline, has triggered nationwide flight disruptions for five consecutive days, turning Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) into a scene of chaos, frustration, and uncertainty for thousands of passengers.
Dreams Delayed: Hackathon Finalists Grounded
Among the stranded were 21-year-old Nishchal and his six teammates from Lucknow. On Saturday afternoon, they were desperately searching for any connecting flight to Hubli in Karnataka, their luggage stacked beside them at Terminal 1. Selected as finalists for the prestigious Smart India Hackathon 2025, they were racing against time not just for prize money but for crucial internship opportunities.
Their original 4:30 PM flight was cancelled at the last moment. "This was a huge opportunity for us, now even reaching the venue has begun to feel uncertain," said Nishchal, as a teammate negotiated with overwhelmed airline staff for an alternate route. Their story was one of many dreams put on hold by the operational crisis.
Terminal Turmoil: Lost Bags and Endless Queues
The baggage claim area at T1 had transformed into a holding zone of anxiety. Passengers, many returning for the second or third day, queued for hours hoping to find missing luggage. On Saturday alone, 71 departures and 79 arrivals were cancelled at IGIA.
Priyanka, a 24-year-old software engineer from Hyderabad, stood in line with 20 others. "I don't know whether my belongings are in Hyderabad or if they've been flown to Delhi. I've been in this queue for the past four hours," she said. Nearby, Sanjar from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, had been waiting nearly six hours for his luggage from Mumbai after his flight was rescheduled multiple times in 24 hours. "There's no staff on the ground who can tell us about the whereabouts of our belongings," he lamented.
The language barrier added another layer of isolation for international travelers. Anvarkhon Saddikkhodjaev, a 40-year-old businessman from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, struggled to communicate with staff using phone translations. His short layover in Delhi en route to a Chennai business meeting turned into a nightmare with a sudden cancellation alert. "I have a business meet in Chennai, they are my partners. Now I don't know how I will reach on time," he said.
Mounting Financial and Emotional Strain
While queues shrank slightly compared to the initial days, the emotional and financial toll on passengers escalated. Outside Terminal 2, Abdul Rashid waited with his family of five. His flight was pushed to Monday, but he needed to be in Calicut by Sunday for business. "Waiting is not just stressful but costly," he stated. His original group of 20 had disbanded, with some opting for trains or cars.
Many scrambled to book tickets on other airlines, only to find fares skyrocketing to Rs 80,000-90,000. Vimal Krishnadas, who needed to reach Gaya by Friday, gave up and booked train tickets for himself and 20 others. He criticized the airline's response, saying, "Apart from breakfast, that too after too much of a tussle, the authority has given us nothing."
Overwhelmed and under-informed ground staff bore the brunt of public anger, as passengers crowded counters demanding full refunds to cut their losses. For many, the chaos led to sheer fatigue. Suresh, a 58-year-old businessman from Bangalore, arrived four hours early for his 4:30 PM flight only to find it cancelled. When offered a rebooking to Srinagar, he declined, citing a lack of guarantee against further cancellations and instead considered train options.
The widespread disruption, rooted in an acute shortage of cabin crew, has exposed the fragility of air travel for lakhs of Indians, turning journeys of opportunity and necessity into ordeals of uncertainty.
