Guwahati, Dec 5: Air travel across the Northeast was thrown into chaos on Friday after the sudden cancellation of more than 20 flights from Guwahati Airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded for hours with little clarity from airlines.
IndiGo, the region’s largest carrier, cancelled all flights from Guwahati across multiple sectors and suspended services to and from the Northeast till December 7, 2025. The disruption has affected travellers bound for several destinations across the region.
Long queues formed at airline counters as anxious passengers demanded answers on refunds, rescheduling, and alternative travel options. Many complained of receiving no prior notification despite repeatedly checking flight status updates.
“The flight status kept showing active with no disruption. Now, prices for other flights have skyrocketed. I need to travel to Jaipur — a trip that normally costs ₹6,000–7,000 — but alternative fares are now touching ₹60,000–70,000. This is unacceptable,” said a stranded passenger.
Similar scenes were reported in Agartala, where all IndiGo flights from Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport were cancelled, triggering panic and confusion among travellers. Airport authorities and airline staff attempted to manage the crowds, but uncertainty continued to build.
The nationwide impact has been severe. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued an internal apology to staff and passengers as the airline grapples with one of its worst operational breakdowns in years. On Thursday alone, 550 IndiGo flights were cancelled across India, with major disruptions in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
In his message, which quickly surfaced on social media, Elbers admitted that the airline failed to maintain the reliable service promised to the 3.8 lakh passengers it carries daily.
“We could not live up to that promise these past days, and we have publicly apologised for that,” he wrote.
Elbers attributed the crisis to a chain reaction of setbacks — minor technical glitches, sudden schedule changes, adverse weather, rising airspace congestion, and the rollout of new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms — creating a “cascading impact” across the network.
Meanwhile, social media platforms are flooded with videos and photos of jam-packed terminals and distraught passengers as uncertainty persists over when normal operations will resume.
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