Chaos at Pune airport as 18 IndiGo flights cancelled, dozens delayed leaving passengers stranded for hours

Some passengers said the delays cost them critical appointments and money. “Our Delhi flight 6E-6763 kept getting delayed. We had a USA visa appointment. We paid ₹50,000 now wasted. The queues are huge. Terrible management,” said Vandana Jadhav.

Travelling with infants became nearly impossible for some families. “My Pune-Amritsar flight (6E-721) keeps getting delayed. I’m travelling with a 1-year-old and a 1.5-year-old. They haven’t even asked us for water, no communication,” said Prarthana Bhose.

“We were to travel to Amritsar (6E-721), even after 12 hours of waiting, no staff, no updates, no food or water. It felt like our time and lives didn’t matter,” said Surinder Mathrani.

Some feared missing onward journeys.

“My 1.10 am flight to Bhopal was rescheduled to 10.45 pm. I may miss my return flight. Customer service isn’t answering calls or emails and the queue here is so long, it’s frustrating,” said Anurag K.

Witnesses said the situation deteriorated through the day as counters overflowed and staff remained scarce.A security personnel on duty said,“The environment in the morning was extremely chaotic, people were angry, frustrated and cursing. Barely any IndiGo staff was present.”

Some passengers waited all night only to be told their flights were cancelled hours later.

“I’ve been here since 2 am. They kept postponing the Pune–Lucknow flight before cancelling. It’s been more than 12 hours. Families are suffering. Completely mismanaged,” said Sahil Ahmed.

Long queues stretched across the reservation centre with barely one counter operating. Rohit Sawant said, “My friend’s Pune–Chandigarh flight is delayed for more than 12 hours. I’ve been in this queue for 4 hours. Only one person is handling everything. Over 100 people are stranded.”

Others travelled from far-off districts only to learn of cancellations on arrival. “We came from Kolhapur for a 4 am flight. No delay message. Finally at noon they said it’s cancelled. No compensation was given” said Ritu Jadhav. “My 2.25 pm Bengaluru flight was pushed to 3.30 pm, now it shows 8 am next day. My mother is in a wheelchair. No information, no help, no clarity,” said Nitin Kulkarni.

Missing baggage added to the chaos. “My husband’s flight to Delhi (6E-6409) kept getting delayed for a day. When he finally left today, his luggage was misplaced. He’s an army officer, his uniform and ID are in the bag,” said Rukmini Mahske.

IndiGo officials said the disruption was triggered by a combination of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) constraints and a software update, which led to a severe shortage of available crew and cascading delays.