Air turbulence leaves travel operators at their wits’ end
Times of India | 7 December 2025
Kolkata: The cancellation of several thousand flights across the country over the past four to five days has become an operational nightmare for tour operators and destination management companies.
Teams are working round the clock to rebook sectors, realign ground arrangements, and manage last-minute changes to hotel, transport, and sightseeing services for clients.
"The sudden cancellations, limited alternate seat availability, and sharp fare spikes have not only caused losses, they have sullied the reputation of tour operators. While the airline is responsible for the disruption, it is the other service providers who are being held accountable for the situation that is beyond their control," pointed out Indian Association of Tour Operators chairman (Bengal Chapter) Debjit Dutta.
Since flights were cancelled at the eleventh hour, tour operators said hotels that were booked in different cities where tourists were supposed to arrive but could not due to the flight disruption are refusing to either refund or relax cancellation policies.
Nitin Sukunia of Travel Bureau, a Kolkata-based tour operator which handles around 20,000 foreign tourists annually, said that while bookings made in other cities where tourists were unable to reach have to be written off, the losses were getting compounded as fresh bookings had to be made in places where the tourists were stranded.
"In addition, there are several other things including local transport and sightseeing that get impacted. It is a domino effect that affects the subsequent itinerary and involves revising everything. With airlines charging anywhere between 4x-10x fares and last-minute hotel tariffs also high, it is a double whammy," said Sukunia, who pegged the business loss in Kolkata on account of the flight chaos at Rs 60-70 crore.
Chandra Prakash Bhattar, who heads Neptune Holidays that handles around 30,000 domestic tourists annually, said the govt needed to act to end the harassment and huge loss of face for the industry and the country's image.
"Profiteering in chaos has become the norm. Hotels in Delhi's Aerocity jacked up prices to Rs 30,000 per night while Skyscanner showed that Air India was charging Rs 1 lakh for a one-stop Delhi-Bengaluru flight against Rs 39,000 by Akasa Air on same route. Everyone wants a bite of the flesh. When service providers become predators, travellers become the feast. This is systemic abandonment," he remarked.