For the second consecutive day, air travel chaos gripped Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) as budget carrier IndiGo cancelled a significant number of flights, leaving passengers stranded and frustrated. The disruptions on Friday followed a similar pattern from Thursday, compounding the misery for travelers.
Second Day of Widespread Cancellations and Delays
IndiGo cancelled 24 more flights on Friday, adding to the 15 flights it had scrapped the previous day. This led to inordinate delays and scenes of chaos at the airport. According to BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan, most of the early morning IndiGo flights that were initially shown as delayed were eventually cancelled. "By 9 pm, 24 flights had been cancelled, and the remaining got delayed," Pradhan confirmed.
The situation was particularly grim for passengers who had spent Thursday night at the airport, hoping to get on a rescheduled flight in the morning. Many faced disappointment. A large number of fliers, giving up on air travel, decided to switch to trains but struggled to retrieve their checked-in luggage.
Passengers Bear the Brunt: High Fares and Stranded Flights
Passengers attempting to book last-minute tickets on other airlines faced exorbitant fares due to the sudden surge in demand. Chandan Dutta, a businessman from Bhubaneswar, shared his ordeal. He was supposed to travel to Visakhapatnam to catch a connecting flight to Delhi. After his IndiGo flight was cancelled, he tried booking a direct ticket to Delhi on another airline. "I found the fare to Delhi had gone up to Rs 23,000," he said.
The disruptions were not limited to domestic routes. An international flight to Dubai, scheduled to depart Bhubaneswar at 6 pm, was delayed by over two hours. Passengers who had already completed immigration formalities were left waiting helplessly in the departure lounge.
Airport Management and DGCA's Role
Airport authorities stated they took measures to manage the situation. "We kept order at the arrival and departure lounge and deployed extra security personnel to handle harried fliers," said Director Prasanna Pradhan. He clarified that the operational problems were specific to IndiGo, and flights operated by other airlines were running smoothly as per schedule.
This crisis occurred even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted IndiGo a temporary exemption from new crew work-hour rules. The fear of these rules had triggered a major incident on Thursday. A Delhi-Bali flight was refused permission to land in Bhubaneswar as authorities apprehended that the captains might deplane upon landing, citing the new rules, and leave the aircraft and passengers stranded—a situation that had occurred the day before.
That Bali-bound flight, with 152 passengers, eventually left BPIA after midnight. An airport officer revealed that police help was required on Friday night as some angry passengers tried to create a scene inside the operational area.
Faced with the continuing turmoil, some passengers adopted a pragmatic approach. Prateek Jain, a flier, said the rush at the IndiGo counter was less than on Thursday as people knew fewer staff would be available. "So, personally, I didn't wait at the counter and checked into a hotel, with an assurance the refund would be credited to my account," he stated.
