Air fares skyrocket from Chandigarh as IndiGo cancels flights
Chandigarh-Delhi Air India ticket costing as high as ₹16,000 on Friday as against usual IndiGo range of ₹2,500 to ₹4,000 amid scramble to book last-minute travel.
Air travellers faced the heat as flight ticket prices from Chandigarh to major destinations skyrocketed on Friday following the cancellation of hundreds of IndiGo flights across the country. With one of India’s largest domestic carriers pulling back operations, limited seat availability led to a surge in fares on other airlines.
For Friday evening, an Alliance Air flight from Chandigarh to Delhi, scheduled to depart at 5.50pm is priced at ₹9,500. An Air India flight on the same route, with a scheduled departure at 6.40 pm, is costing as high as ₹16,000. On routine days, an IndiGo one-way ticket for the same sector usually ranges between ₹2,500 and ₹4,000, marking a massive jump for passengers now scrambling to book last-minute travel.
Air fare on booking platforms showed an upward trend through Sunday, December 7, with Air India’s prices for the Chandigarh-Delhi route continuing to hover around ₹16,000. With no other scheduled flight operating on Friday, prices for the upcoming weekend are even steeper.
Travel to other cities has also become a costly affair. A Chandigarh to Bengaluru ticket on December 6 (Saturday) is showing an astonishing ₹65,000 for a single seat on Air India. The journey, involving a layover in Mumbai, carries an approximate flying time of 10 hours.
Similarly, passengers headed to Mumbai from Chandigarh on the same date are being quoted fares around ₹43,000 for a one-way booking.
Chandigarh-based travel agent Manjit Singh said the spike was on expected lines given IndiGo’s wide network and passenger volume.
“With IndiGo being the largest carrier of domestic flights, other airlines are now shooting up the prices, at least for another two-three days. So far, reasonable prices are showing from Monday onwards, but looking at the situation, the prices will shoot up further in a few hours,” he added.
Pune-bound IndiGo passengers spend night at Chandigarh airport
India’s largest airline IndiGo’s operations crumbled as pilot-rostering issues continued to force large-scale flight cancellations, over 500 on Friday, with passengers stranded overnight, including those bound for Pune from Chandigarh airport.
The Chandigarh–Pune flight, scheduled to depart at 9.15pm on Thursday, finally took off at 7.50am on Friday, forcing passengers to spend the night at the airport.
Passengers complained that airline staff lacked clarity on the schedule and avoided giving definite answers throughout the night.
IndiGo, which generally operates around 2,300 flights daily with a fleet of over 400 planes, on Friday issued a detailed public apology to passengers, confirming the full-day cancellation of all domestic departures from Delhi Airport (DEL). It said that December 5 would see the “highest number of cancellations” as IndiGo undertakes a system reboot to stabilise schedules starting Saturday.
It assured passengers of multiple support measures, stating, “We will ensure that all refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment. Full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests for bookings between December 5-15, 2025.”
