Kenyan student going home, Odisha doctor with surgeries lined up: IndiGo chaos leaves thousands stranded at Delhi Airport

“On my way to the airport, I got the cancellation message, but I still came because I have four surgeries scheduled in the next three days and the airline says there’s no flight till Monday,” he said.

“I’m more worried about my patients — these are elective surgeries, but they can still have an emergency health condition which can trigger pain. Taking a train would take days,” rued Patnaik, who works at a private hospital.

Frolian Francis Ndigobaha, a Tanzanian MTech student from IIT-Roorkee, had travelled to Delhi with three friends only to find that his flight was cancelled. “I’m going back home after a year. My luggage is packed with gifts for Christmas,” said Ndigobaha. “It’s been a waste of my time, energy and money. I don’t know what to do.”

He said he also needs to collect data for a college project at home, which could be jeopardised if he can’t return. Paul Hezron, one of Ndigobaha’s friends, said humorously, “We wanted to escort him to Delhi but I guess we will also need to escort him back to Roorkee.”

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In a post on its X handle, the Delhi Airport authority issued a passenger advisory stating that all IndiGo domestic flights departing from Delhi Airport on Friday are cancelled till midnight. It informed that “on-ground teams are working diligently with all partners to mitigate the disruption,” adding that operations for all other carriers remains the same.

A trio of sisters, all in their 70s, stood outside the departure terminal with their luggage at their feet. “We were supposed to be on our way to Pune for a naturopathy appointment… we go there every year,” said Sashi, who lives in Gurgaon.

Her sisters, Kamlesh and Rajni, who had come all the way from Meerut and Jabalpur, were also caught in the logistical nightmare. “It’s such a hassle. We were supposed to be there by the 14th. Now train tickets aren’t available… tatkal tickets will be for Monday at the latest,” said Kamlesh.

When the women tried to see if they could book alternate flights, they saw that prices had skyrocketed to Rs 20,000 per head.

The primary reason for the disruption with the airline — India’s largest, accounting for over 60% of domestic passenger traffic — are crew shortages in the wake of the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms. On Friday evening, in a slight breather for the airline, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation withdrew its instructions to all operators regarding the weekly rest for crew members.

For those stranded, however, there was little respite. Standing in serpentine lines at ticket counters, they tried to find out if the airlines could provide alternative travel arrangements or even a place to stay for the night.

Athira, a PG Diploma student at Haryana University, had travelled over a 100 km to catch a 6.30 pm IndiGo flight to Kochi — only to find that it had been cancelled. Sitting outside Terminal 1, she said, “I’ve already spent a lot of money to fly back home… I will get another ticket from the airlines, I can’t afford to buy another.”

Kantilal (61) and Laxmi Jain (45) from Rajasthan had left Bikaner and reached Delhi late Thursday night, braving the cold. The friends were going to Chennai and Guwahati for work — but found themselves stranded at the airport since Friday morning after they checked out from their hotel.

“The tickets already cost us a lot. We had a flight at 4.20 pm but we reached the airport at 6.30 in the morning. It was important for me to reach Chennai as it was supposed to be my first day at work. When I enquired about tickets, it was costing me Rs 40,000 for a flight and Rs 18,000 for a train,” said Kantilal, a heart patient for many years.

The duo could be seen making multiple rounds at the airlines enquiry station, pushing their luggage trolley. “Nobody is helping us,  but we won’t let our money go,” they said.

At the counter, IndiGo has been rescheduling flights for December 8 for passengers who opt to reschedule, while others, like the surgeon, received emails about refunds, which may take 3–5 days.

In the melee of harried passengers was a group of three couples and their children who had made plans to vacation in Goa. They were supposed to catch a connecting flight from Delhi.

However, their flight from Gwalior to Delhi on Thursday was rescheduled for the next day. Wanting to follow through with their vacation plans — which they had been looking forward to for months — they made the decision to take a train and reached Delhi by Friday.

Sitting on the pavement at the departure gate of T1, Dr Vikas Yadav said, “This trip cost us around Rs 3 lakh, no hotels in Goa will refund the amount now. The only solution is to go back now. We have five children with us all, between one and six years.”

The couple also juggled a cranky special needs child between them. “We had to interrupt his routine and pause his therapy for a few days to go for this vacation… all of this amounted to nothing. We will stay at a hotel tonight and catch the next train out of Delhi,” said Yadav’s wife.