For thousands of air travelers in India, the first week of December 2025 was one they won’t soon forget. A massive wave of flight cancellations—primarily from IndiGo, the country’s largest airline—left passengers stranded, confused, and often angry at airports from Chennai to New Delhi. The disruption, which began as a trickle, quickly swelled into a nationwide crisis, prompting urgent government intervention, a scramble for alternative transport, and a flurry of policy changes from airlines.
According to The Times of India, the trouble peaked on Saturday, December 6, when 94 arrivals and departures of IndiGo flights were cancelled at Chennai airport alone. Out of 93 scheduled IndiGo flights from Chennai that day, only 42 took off, while the remaining 51 were scrapped. Even a SpiceJet flight to and from Mumbai was grounded. The result? Chennai airport, which normally handles 68,000 passengers daily, saw just 38,000 pass through its terminals—a stunning drop that underscored the scale of the chaos.
IndiGo’s woes weren’t confined to Chennai. Hyderabad airport saw 77 IndiGo flights affected on December 8, while New Delhi’s IGI Airport became a scene of confusion, anger, and exhaustion as the operational disruptions dragged into their sixth day. Passengers queued in long lines at ticketing counters, desperate for information. Some, frustrated by delays and cancellations, lost their tempers with ground staff—a few incidents even caught on video and circulated widely on social media, as reported by The New Indian Express.
“You cannot do this to me,” one distressed flyer was heard telling an IndiGo staff member, echoing the sentiments of many. For families with children, the ordeal was especially taxing. Srijana, a passenger from Hyderabad traveling to New York with her husband and young daughter, recounted, “We were supposed to catch a connecting flight from New Delhi to New York but due to the delay, we missed the flight. We spent a good 3.5 hours at the airport even after landing.” Though the airline arranged accommodation and eventually rebooked them on a 6:30 am flight, the uncertainty and inconvenience lingered.
Others, like Sooraj and Kiran traveling from Hong Kong to Bengaluru, found their connecting flights from Delhi cancelled as well. “It is inconvenient as we have elderly parents at home and work meetings to attend. Our plans did get disrupted. And the airline is not doing us a favour by offering accommodation. I think it is only ethical for them to do so,” Sooraj told The New Indian Express. Baggage chaos added to the distress, with piles of unclaimed bags at Terminal 1 and many travelers struggling to locate their belongings.
Passengers were further frustrated when IndiGo closed its virtual channels for ticket verification, cancellations, and rescheduling, forcing everyone to visit counters in person. The airline did, however, offer free rescheduling of flights until December 15 and promised full waivers on cancellations and reschedule requests—small relief for those caught in the mess.
The root cause of the meltdown? IndiGo described the mass cancellations as a necessary step to “reboot the network, systems, and rosters so that we could start afresh.” On December 6, the airline operated just 1,500 flights nationwide out of its usual 2,300, and disruptions continued for days. At the height of the crisis, cancellations exceeded 1,000 flights in a single day, according to ANI, cited by several outlets.
As passengers scrambled for alternatives, demand for tickets on other carriers—such as Akasa Air, Air India, and SpiceJet—sent fares soaring. Reports from The Times of India and New Indian Express described sharp increases in ticket prices, with some travelers forced to pay exorbitant sums for last-minute seats. The government quickly took notice. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) issued a directive capping domestic airfares to prevent price gouging and protect vulnerable travelers, including senior citizens, students, and patients. The ministry stated that these caps would remain in place until the situation fully stabilized.
Air India responded to the government’s order by capping economy class fares on both its mainline and Air India Express flights, aiming to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism from triggering steep price hikes. The airline also announced refunds for economy class passengers who had purchased tickets above the approved ceiling during the transition period. “We are also engaging with third-party ticket booking platforms to exercise caution,” an Air India spokesperson said. The process of rolling out capped fares required a phased approach, given the complexity of airline reservation systems, but Air India Express completed the transition swiftly, with Air India following soon after.
Meanwhile, Southern Railways stepped in to help ease the travel crunch, announcing a slew of special trains to various destinations. These included extra services between Nagercoil and Tambaram, Thiruvananthapuram North and Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore and Dr MGR Chennai Central, and Bengaluru and Chennai, among others. Railway officials noted that additional coaches were added to regular trains as waiting lists surged, and special trains were scheduled to run through December 9.
By Sunday, December 7, signs of recovery began to emerge. IndiGo reported operating over 1,650 flights, up from 1,500 the previous day, with on-time performance improving from 30% to 75%. The airline said 137 out of its 138 destinations were back in operation. Refunds and luggage sorting were ongoing, and IndiGo promised to trace and deliver all separated baggage within 48 hours, claiming to have already delivered 3,000 pieces across India by Saturday. The Ministry of Civil Aviation mandated that all refunds for cancelled or severely delayed flights be completed by 8 pm Sunday, and IndiGo reported processing refunds totaling ₹610 crore.
Airport directors from major hubs—Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Goa—confirmed that by Sunday, conditions at terminals had returned to normal. There was no crowding at check-in, security, or boarding points, and on-ground support had been bolstered with extra staff and security. The MoCA’s 24x7 control room continued to function as a coordination hub, fielding hundreds of passenger calls and overseeing flight operations and passenger support.
Despite the chaos, the government’s rapid intervention and the airlines’ efforts to restore order helped stabilize the situation by the end of the weekend. For travelers caught in the crossfire, it was a week of missed connections, sleepless nights, and frayed nerves—but also a reminder of how quickly the world’s largest democracy can mobilize to protect its citizens when the travel system goes off the rails.
