Chaos Reigns Supreme at Hyderabad Airport, 155 IndiGo Flights Cancelled
Three-day crisis leaves hundreds stranded at RGIA with lost baggage, long waits and little clarity
Hyderabad: Widespread confusion intensified at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport with Indigo cancelling 155 flights on Friday, the largest cancellation during the three-day chaos. As of 9 pm, RGIA said Indigo cancelled 84 departures and 71 arrivals.
Over three days, RGIA has seen Indigo cancel 260 flights. Authorities stated that 31 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, 74 flights on Thursday and 155 on Friday.
The mass cancellations triggered chaos inside the terminal. Thousands of passengers, who were heading to different parts of the country, suddenly found themselves stranded without any clear guidance on rescheduling or status updates of their flights.
Many were left waiting for hours amid confusion, while frustrated travellers crowded help desks demanding answers.
Kumar Shantanu, a passenger who was heading to Delhi for a job interview, said, “I had to reschedule the interview, and now I’m booking a train to go to Delhi. The ground staff are trying really hard to manage the crowd, but to be honest, the higher authorities of IndiGo and the central aviation body should be blamed.”
Another passenger said that their luggage is lost and are anxiously waiting for their baggage. “The IndiGo staff said that my bag will be on Belt 3, but I searched all the belts for more than 3 hours and couldn't find my bag. I went and asked them, and they said that the flight was set to depart from another terminal and asked me to go check there. I went there and tried searching, but couldn’t find it. I’m now running between terminals and losing my patience and confidence in finding my bag,” the distraught passenger said.
IndiGo officials on Saturday said that they are expecting fewer than 700 cancellations and will work around the catastrophic day, and have requested passengers to closely check their flight status before heading to the airport.
