Travellers in Bihar are staring down a nightmare of empty skies and wallet-busting ticket prices, all thanks to IndiGo’s spiraling operational meltdown that’s left the state’s airports in disarray.
Over 25 flights of the country’s largest airline to Bihar’s airports have been cancelled on Saturday, owing to alleged shortage of pilots and restraints of the fresh safety rules, impacting close to 3,000 passengers. The passengers were left to fend for themselves at gates or scrambling for alternatives.
At Patna’s Jay Prakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport, the chaos peaked on Friday with 25 out of 29 scheduled IndiGo departures axed, leaving only a skeleton crew of services to Hyderabad, Ranchi and Lucknow limping along. Saturday saw another 14 cuts from the 31 planned flights, turning what should have been a bustling hub into a ghost town of rolling suitcases and frustrated sighs.
This mess isn’t isolated to Patna. Over in Darbhanga, a key gateway for the Mithila region, IndiGo’s no-shows have jacked up one-way fares to Delhi into the stratosphere—anywhere from ₹20,000 to a jaw-dropping ₹47,000, while returns hover between ₹17,500 and ₹21,800, compared to the usual ₹4,000- ₹5,000 bargain. Gaya’s modest airport, popular with pilgrims heading to the Bodhi Tree, hasn’t escaped either: connecting flights from Chennai via Kolkata to Bodh Gaya have been yanked, stranding spiritual seekers and leaving them pleading for refunds on social media. IndiGo, which dominates Bihar’s skies with over 60% of the traffic, connects these spots to metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, but right now, those links feel more like broken promises.
At Patna’s terminal, long queues snaked around IndiGo counters like a bad dream, with families on wedding errands or holiday getaways caught in the crossfire. One harried parent from Darbhanga posted online: “Kids crying, no updates—IndiGo, where’s the humanity?”
Fares have gone berserk due to the crisis. A one-way hop from Patna to Bengaluru, typically a steal at ₹7,000- ₹8,000, now demands over ₹58,000 for Sunday’s slots—enough to make your eyes water. Likewise, Patna-Delhi travel was costing around ₹41,500 against the normal ₹5,000- ₹6,000. Airfare to Patna and Mumbai has ballooned to ₹90,000, hitting hardest during this mashup of wedding season, Christmas prep and year-end escapes.
Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials at Patna attribute the spike to slashed seat supply from IndiGo’s groundings and a passenger rush that’s only growing. “The crisis was more poignant on Friday, as 13 out of 44-46 total flights made it off the tarmac, all because of IndiGo’s mass pullouts,” confided a senior AAI officer, speaking off the record. “Other carriers like Air India and SpiceJet are operating fine, no cancellations in four-five days.”
Officials of the AAI said that the crisis deepened as the IndiGo preferred to keep its flights and staff grounded instead of managing additional resources in time to comply with the renewed DGCA rules stipulated to boost safety and relief to tired pilots. “These Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) slash night flying hours, mandate beefier rest breaks, and cap weekly duties—laudable on paper, but a rude shock for IndiGo’s roster,” said an airline staff.
In view of the crisis, AAI Patna issued an advisory: “Double-check your flight’s pulse before heading out—save yourself the dash.” IndiGo’s local honcho echoed the plea, insisting the team is striving hard to normalise the situation as soon as possible. “The nationwide cancellations dipped under 850 today from yesterday’s peak, and we’re laser-focused on refunds first,” the official noted. “Expect progressive fixes over the coming days, with real-time pings via app, site, and terminals.”
