First time since Wed, IndiGo ops at Kolkata airport finally reach Destination Normalcy
Times of India | 10 December 2025
Kolkata: On Tuesday, operations at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport returned to the new normal for the first time since the Dec 3 meltdown, with no flight cancellations except for those that IndiGo Airlines had dropped from its network in advance. Nearly all operations were on time, and passenger movement through the airport was smooth.
The overall scene at the airport among flyers, airline staff, and airport officials was one of relief as last week's disruption, which had become a nightmare, appeared to fade. On Tuesday, there were still a few flyers who were jolted by the ordeal. However, the sentiment was one of hope and not the dejection witnessed last week.
Among the happy faces were the family of Meghraj Adhikari Matum, his wife Binita, and daughter Sonam, who could finally board a flight back home to Manipur after being stuck in Kolkata for three days. "We exhausted all our money on hotel stays and transportation here in Kolkata and would have been in deeper trouble if we were not allowed to board a flight back home even today. But thankfully, after a spree of cancellations, we were offered tickets on an afternoon flight on Tuesday," said Meghraj, who owns a mobile phone and accessories shop in Imphal.
The family of three went for a vacation to Delhi and Agra and took a flight from Delhi on Dec 6. "The connecting flight from Kolkata to Imphal was cancelled and rescheduled thrice so far, only to get cancelled every time. We were staying at a hotel near New Market during this period. On Tuesday, we came over to the airport and demanded to be put on the afternoon flight as there were empty seats, as shown on the website. The staff did so, and we could finally fly back home," said Binita, a homemaker.
Equally happy were soldiers Rafaqat Ali and Shaukat Ali from Jammu and Kashmir, who were stuck in Kolkata since Friday as their flight to Imphal was cancelled. "We reached Kolkata by train from Srinagar. But here in Kolkata, the flight was cancelled. We were being told to rush back to join our duty at Imphal, but we were stuck here. Finally, we could board a flight on Tuesday," said Shaukat.
The IndiGo counter inside gate 3C, which was swarming with agitated passengers for the last week, was also relatively empty as ground staff patiently listened to passenger problems and tried to solve them.
IndiGo said it operated more than 1,800 flights, connecting all 138 stations in their network on Tuesday, and planned to fly nearly 1,900 flights on Wednesday, while adding that the on-time performance was also back to normal levels on Tuesday. In a video statement, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said: "We confirm that as of Dec 9, our operations are fully stabilised, with all flights reflected on our website scheduled to operate with an adjusted network." Kolkata airport authorities shared that until 12 noon, all IndiGo flights were on time. There were only four delayed flights, each operated by other carriers — Air India, Air India Express, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air.