Birsa Munda Airport limps back to normalcy after three days of IndiGo chaos

Ranchi: After three days of unprecedented chaos triggered by mass cancellations of IndiGo flights, operations at Birsa Munda Airport started limping back to normalcy on Sunday.

Compared to 11 flight cancellations on Friday and seven on Saturday, only three IndiGo flights were cancelled on Sunday, bringing partial relief to passengers and airport authorities.When TOI visited the airport on Sunday, no chaotic situation and heated arguments were seen among the passengers and IndiGo officials, unlike Friday and Saturday. On both days, chaos and frustration prevailed among the fliers as they failed to receive concrete clarification and alternate arrangements from the airline after their flights got cancelled at the last minute.The number of security personnel deployed at the airport was increased due to apprehensions of the occurrence of untoward situations over the cancelled flights. But on Sunday, no additional security deployment was observed at the airport.One of the security personnel deployed at the airport, on condition of anonymity, said, “The situation started to come under control from Saturday night itself. That's probably because IndiGo has started rescheduling the flights, and the govt has also put the flight duty time limitation in abeyance.”

Despite the improvement, many passengers whose flights were cancelled earlier are still struggling to secure direct rescheduled flights to their destinations. Instead, the airline has offered connecting rescheduled flights, forcing travellers to spend additional hours in transit.Pratik, a Pune-bound passenger from Ranchi airport, secured a seat on connecting rescheduled flights on Sunday, after three cancellations in the past three days.“I came to Ranchi from Pune on Dec 3 for some official work and I had a return ticket booked for the next day. But due to the chaos, my flight got cancelled on Dec 4. Then IndiGo rescheduled the flight to Dec 5, but that too got cancelled. Again, they rescheduled my flight to Dec 6, which again met the same fate. Finally, I managed to get a flight to Pune via Delhi on Sunday,” Pratik told TOI.He added that the repeated cancellations took a toll on him, adding to his expenses in managing accommodations in Ranchi.Another Pune-based businessman, Sunil Mangle, who came to Jharkhand on Nov 21, will only manage to return on Monday, although he was scheduled to return Saturday.“Both my previously booked flight to Pune on Saturday (Dec 6) and rescheduled flight on Sunday got cancelled. Now, I have got connecting flights to Kolkata and Hyderabad on Monday. Then I will board a train from Hyderabad to reach Pune,” Sunil added.