Stranded passengers protest at Hyderabad airport as IndiGo cancels 37 more flights
Hyderabad: A chaotic situation prevailed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here for the second consecutive day on Thursday as IndiGo cancelled 37 outbound flights, leaving aggrieved flyers stranded without alternative arrangements or clear communication, sources said.
A similar number of incoming flights were also cancelled by the carrier during the day, they said.
Several videos circulating on social media showed frustrated passengers arguing with the airline’s staff over the cancellations and taking out protest marches inside the airport.
Indigo cancelled 19 flights from Hyderabad on Wednesday.
“Witnessing a sham service by @IndiGo6E. No officials, help desk or information available. It’s chaos at @RGIAHyd, never imagined I would witness such scenes first hand after 25 years of being a frequent flyer,”Shabd Mishra Director, Renaissance eServices Ltd said in post on X along with a video purportedly showing a group of passengers chanting slogans like “Indigo bandh karo… Indigo Murdabad”.
“We have been at Hyderabad Airport from yesterday at 6:00 PM until today at 9:00 AM—over 12 hours—with no action taken by IndiGo regarding the Pune flight. This situation has caused significant inconvenience,” a netizen said in a post on Thursday.
Another flyer said, “Total chaos at Hyderabad airport today — flights delayed 12+ hours. To not give accommodation, they kept pushing it by “just 2 more hours” every single time for 12 hours. Same excuse: crew is coming soon. Unacceptable.”
In a statement on Wednesday, RGIA said some IndiGo flights at the airport have been impacted due to airline-related technology and operational issues, resulting in delays and cancellations.
Requesting the passengers to contact IndiGo’s customer service team directly for the latest updates on flight status, the airport had said that operations remain normal.
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday said the airline’s immediate goal is to normalise operations and bring punctuality back on track “which is not an easy target”.
In a message to the staff, he also admitted that the airline could not live up to the promise of providing good experience to customers.
IndiGo, the country’s largest airline, is grappling with significant operational disruptions in the past few days and more than 300 flights were cancelled on Thursday while scores of flights were delayed.
Against this backdrop, Elbers said these past few days have been difficult for many of IndiGo’s customers and colleagues.
“We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days and we have publicly apologised for that,” he said.
According to him, an accumulation of several operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes, adverse weather conditions, heightened congestion in the aviation ecosystem, and the implementation of the newly released FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, compounded negatively to create a cascading impact on the airline’s operations.
The airline operates around 2,300 flights daily and its on-time performance (OTP) plunged to 19.7 per cent on December 3.
“Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions. For that a lot of work is being conducted right now. Our immediate goal is to normalise our operations and bring punctuality back on track in the coming days, which is not an easy target,” the CEO said.
This post was last modified on December 4, 2025 8:24 pm