Air Travel Chaos: IndiGo Flight Cancellations Skyrocket Fares Across Major Routes

New Delhi: IndiGo has cancelled all its flights departing from Delhi today, with a similar wave of cancellations reported at other major airports across the country. This has left thousands of passengers stranded, and available flights on other airlines are witnessing ticket prices soaring several times above normal.

Fares Surge Dramatically
Travelers at airports nationwide are struggling as flight options shrink. On high-demand routes like Mumbai and Delhi, ticket prices booked just a day earlier have tripled. Travel agents and airline officials report that most direct flights on major routes are almost fully booked.

Example: Delhi–Bengaluru Route
A check on the Ixigo website at 11 AM showed that the minimum fare for Delhi to Bengaluru flights was ₹23,000, while the maximum fare reached ₹85,000. For Bengaluru to Delhi, fares ranged from ₹26,000 to over ₹80,000. Interestingly, the lowest fares were on IndiGo flights, many of which are being cancelled in bulk, whereas the highest fares were on Air India flights, which are operating as scheduled.

Delhi–Patna, Delhi–Mumbai Routes Also Hit
Similarly, for Delhi–Patna, fares ranged from ₹24,623 to ₹62,000, while Patna–Mumbai ranged from ₹37,448 to ₹69,000. On the Mumbai–Patna route, fares varied between ₹38,000 and ₹48,000. Across these routes, IndiGo flights offered the lowest fares, and Air India flights the highest.

Business Travelers Struggle
A travel agent highlighted the challenges faced by a UK-based businessman in Delhi who needed to travel to Kolkata for a one-night business meeting. Typically, flight bookings are straightforward for him, but on Thursday, finding a seat was difficult, and fares for the Delhi–Kolkata–Delhi round trip on Air India Express for 6–7 December soared to ₹42,000, compared to the usual ₹15,000.

The cancellations and skyrocketing fares are causing significant disruption for both leisure and business travelers, leaving passengers with limited options and steep ticket costs.