Hundreds of passengers waited for long hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) on Saturday as more than 450 flights were delayed and many flights were cancelled due to air traffic congestion, with the situation starting to ease from afternoon onwards.
With hundreds of flights affected due to diversions and delays, hundreds of passengers remained stranded for hours and triggering a wave of complaints on social media over airline mismanagement. Notably, only three runways are operational at the airport now as one runway is closed for maintenance works.
Social media users shared pictures and videos of waiting passengers at the airport. Sources said passengers at Terminal 3 described the situation as chaotic. However, beyond the delays, passenger frustration boiled over on social media, where many criticised about flight operations including poor communication and a lack of timely updates on flight statuses and gate information. Many passengers shared pictures and videos of some places inside the airport being crowded. While airlines such as Air India and IndiGo issued advisories on X, many frustrated passengers described their ordeal.
Delhi airport operator DIAL put out multiple updates on social media platform X about flight operations, along with some pictures of waiting areas inside the airport. In a post on X at 1919 hours, DIAL said flight operations at the airport are normal across all terminals.
At 1701 hours, it said flight operations at the airport are normal, but some airlines are still affected by last night’s weather conditions. “Our teams are working hard to minimise inconvenience. Please check flight status on our website and airline websites for updates”.
In a post at 1153 hours, DIAL said that due to last night’s inclement weather significantly impacting the flight operations across the country, “we want to assure you that all airlines and stakeholders are working hard to minimise any inconvenience to passengers,” it said.
Over 450 flights were delayed and the average delay for departing flights was around 50 minutes. Around 18 flights were cancelled and over 50 flights diverted, as per data from flight tracking website Flightradar24.Com.
IndiGo, in a post on X at 1332 hours, said please expect a wait while flying to/from Delhi due to the ongoing air traffic congestion. “Ongoing air traffic congestion in Delhi is causing flights to be held for takeoff and landing clearance. Due to the consequential impact, a few flights across the network are impacted too,” it said. In a post on X at 1441 hours, Air India told passengers flying today to/from Delhi to expect potential disruptions due to heavy dusty winds forecast between 1730 and 2100 hours.Similar weather conditions on Friday evening caused flight diversions and delays, with air traffic congestion continuing to affect operations into today, the airline said.
“We were then asked to board another flight in Delhi for Mumbai at 12 am. We sat in the aircraft for about 4 hours and were then made to deboard again and go through the security check again. It’s 8 am, and we are still waiting at the airport. Our flight has not yet taken off,” the stranded passenger said. A 75-year-old wheelchair-bound woman onboard the same flight said, “We are stranded for over 12 hours. We could not land in Delhi due to the storm. But we have been waiting at the Delhi airport since 11 pm.”
Posting a picture of the stranded passengers, a user wrote: “Most mismanaged, misinformed world class international airport, New Delhi...Worse than bus stand”. On Friday evening, flight operations at the airport were disrupted as the national capital witnessed inclement weather conditions, including dust storms. In the morning, a social media user shared a video of many passengers seeking an update on their flight from an airline staff member inside the airport on X and said that there was chaos.
IGIA, which is the country’s largest airport and handles around 1,300 flight movements daily, currently has three operational runways and one runway is temporarily closed for maintenance works.
